Now that the dust has settled, the members of Pokemon Crossroads were asked what they thought about Pokemon Sun and Moon. Here’s what they said!
Be warned that the following opinions may include spoilers for the main story of Pokemon Sun and Moon.
On Festival Plaza…
I think Festival Plaza is a real step back and belongs back in BW and not in 7th gen which I would have hoped the communication features would be more integrated into the actual game. Especially after the PSS which was fantastic in XY/ORAS! I loved coming across other trainers, sending O Powers and interacting. I don’t wanna have to go into another dimension thingo to find my friends and be able to trade! So yeah real step backwards in my opinion.
I think we can all agree Festival Plaza was a bit of a horrendous mistake. The PSS was everything the online mode in Pokémon should be, and it was just so easy to access. With Festival Plaza though, you need to connect to the internet EVERY SINGLE TIME you go into it, and that takes a lot of time. It’s also extremely difficult to find friends; one time I found a friend instantly, and another time I couldn’t find a different friend at all. What kind of online system makes it impossible to play with your friends? A bad one. It’s probably my main criticism about the game, and don’t get me wrong, as much as I loved them I know there are a few issues.
On new Pokemon…
I like a lot of the pokemon, but I think it’s also my least favourite generation. The concept of Ultra Beasts disinterests me and detracts from pokemon. It’s sort of like a cheap way to shove in OP pokemon without calling them legendaries.
I know people complain about Pokemon being the same thing over and over but the new Pokemon are usually enough to make it different and interesting. The Pokemon are the MAIN thing, you know? And they open up a hundred new stories, ideas, battling strategies and new info about the Pokemon world. This time I felt like the story was the main part of the game, and the Pokemon were just an aside. To be fair, this may be because I did not like a lot of the Pokemon and that there weren’t as many Pokemon as I was hoping for. I felt there were too many joke/”funny” Pokemon like Alola Dugtrio, Exeggutor and Persian. Luckily there were still some great ones like the starters, Rockruff, Cutiefly, and Pikipek lines. I was disappointed by most Pokemon I came across after that strong start, unfortunately.
…there were some really good Pokemon introduced and some really interesting typings and abilities. Mimikyu and Salazzle are two personal favourites of mine. I also like the calling for help idea, it adds an extra challenge to a battle because there’s a chance you have to defeat 2 Pokemon at once rather than the one that you originally encounter.
On Trials…
Another flaw would be the Trials were rather anticlimactic. They were different from Gyms, which was nice, but also so much easier. There was no challenge in most of them; only one Totem Pokémon – Wishiwashi, even though I had a Dartrix – made me struggle. I did feel as though the Elite Four of the game more than made up for that, especially the last battle. I was underleveled because I was turning the EXP Share on and off at that point to match ordinary trainers, so the level jump made the battle so much more intense. :D
I did mind the lack of gyms and found the island trials pretty easy and childish.
The trials were also pretty boring. It felt like a pokemon-esque JRPG rather than a Pokemon game. I know that Pokemon is technically a JRPG, but to me it seemed to easily distinguish itself, where a lot of JRPGs felt relatively the same to me. The Aether Foundation was weird and I feel like the whole thing was a sham, yet it’s not at the same time? They were sort of the bad guys but also still somehow the good guys? Idk. Maybe I’m getting more cynical the more games I play and I become less impressed with things that I would have loved years ago. Just didn’t impress me. xD
On all the changes…
…although I really wanted change, I feel like it changed too much. So much so that to me it didn’t even feel like a main story game anymore. Getting rid of HMs, although really helpful and actually pulled off really well, takes away the challenge from the game that you would have because of a waste space for your poor HM slave. I miss that, but it wasn’t a huge issue I had with the game.
For the first time, I didn’t feel like I was in control of my journey, I felt like I was just going through the motions. I felt the path forward was too defined, and I think the 3D graphics and story really contributed to that feeling, rather than the feeling of going on an open adventure. I didn’t feel the need to linger in any one spot to explore, for example. There didn’t seem to be much complexity to the caves, the routes etc., whereas in previous games there were always heaps of little places to go back and explore when getting a new HM.
I didn’t mind the ride Pokemon but I think it could be much improved by letting you use your OWN Pokemon like you would with HMs. But I did mind the lack of gyms and found the island trials pretty easy and childish.
Now, lets talk about fishing, and how Sun and Moon totally destroyed it. I really dislike how they have completely changed it and how now, instead of freely fishing anywhere, you have to fish at designated fishing spots. I used to like how free it was where you can fish in any open water area, but now it’s so restricted that I don’t even bother, especially since chain fishing is non existent now. Also the shiny animation is horrific. It looks like a stamp.
Overall…
In my opinion, Sun and Moon were wonderful games, and I enjoyed playing them very much. I’ve already played through them three times, and after I finish Red, I intend on replaying Moon again. The plot of the games is the best of all mainline games for sure. However, my issue was that the Pokemon weren’t as great as I had hoped they’d be. And because the new Pokemon matter most to me when it comes to a new generation, Alola took a hard hit. Regardless, the plot was amazing, and Alola did produce some of my favorite ‘mons of all-time (most notably Primarina, Ninetales, Tsareena, and Ribombee), so I’d probably equate Sun and Moon with Gold and Silver.
I haven’t played through much of my copy of Moon, but I will say that I’m not all that impressed with it, unlike most people. Seems to me like they changed too many things just for the sake of change rather than actual necessity, even if keeping the old ways of doing things made the series stale.
I was extremely bored with the storyline the whole way through until Lusamine goes into the other dimension or whatever. xD It just felt really lacking. I wasn’t overly impressed with the gameplay either. I was excited at the start of the game, and my interest only declined from there. I don’t know, the whole adventure felt tragically underwhelming. I’m not sure why. I just didn’t connect with Moon the way I have with previous games.
They were great games and all, I just didn’t feel the same immersion with them as I did in games like ORAS and HGSS. Probably because they had to take out a LOT of features due to space limitations. I mean for god’s sake, not even double battles would even have a decent framerate! No national dex (yeah I know they made the national dex part of bank but that’s kinda a stupid cop-out), only two ways to get shiny Pokemon. And also they basically threw away Mega Evolution in a way which was such a BIG component of the games. Gameplay-wise it was just…very lacking.
I did enjoy the story and found it interesting while playing, I liked that team Skull were so silly and had me laughing out loud, but when it comes down to it, it just didn’t feel like a main Pokemon game to me. I felt like I was playing Fossil Fighters: Pokemon Version or something. xD There was too much different for me to really enjoy it as much as I enjoyed XY and ORAS. :( I just don’t feel like it’s strong enough to be the next generation, kinda. I was looking forward to a third Kalos game honestly.
My biggest complaint is how difficult and slow it is to rack up BP at the Battle tree, and how there are so few Mega Stones available, even after the Pokebank update. You can still get Alternate form Giratina and Shaymin, and the DNA Splicers for Kyurem. Why no love for all the mega pokemon? I got really attached to my Gardevoir, and now she can’t be Mega anymore. Still, I was really impressed with all the full body models and the more in depth character customization. It feels like X and Y all over again, more of a proof of concept than a full game.
What did you think of Sun and Moon overall? Let us know in the comments!
