Pokemon Sun and Moon: First Impressions and Release

[Lozjam]

So, at least here(I know the Australians have Sun and Moon already), Pokemon Sun and Moon will be released in 6 hours.

This is so exciting! But I created this thread for our raw impressions of the game, and to generally document our experiences with the game.

So, before release... What are you most excited for in Sun and Moon.

For After release, what do you think thus far?

 

[Azure Sage]

The story is the best in Pokemon so far I think. And Hau and Lillie are the best characters, Lillie especially; she's my favorite in the entire series already. I love the new pokemon, especially Mimikyu. I love the overworld and the full-size character models just as much as I thought I would. It really makes a difference.

The fashion, what I was looking forward to the most, is an utter disappointment. There are only, like, 4 stores to pick from to begin with, and there's almost no variety whatsoever. Almost every piece of clothing available is the exact opposite of what I like to wear. I ended up sticking with the same shirt and pants I picked out in Hau'oli City the entire game. The only good points of the fashion were the ability to take off the hat (A++++++ for that one, I'm completely thrilled by that at least) and the contact lenses.

Also, the protag's face bothers me... He has one emotion: blank stare. And he has it constantly no matter what's happening in every cutscene (barring a few of the more cinematic ones). It doesnt help that his eyes are kinda far apart too. Also, the way he walks looks a bit... odd. And his character model is really... short. he really does look like an 11 year old. That kinda bugs me. I mean, yeah it's a game aimed at kids so I really can't complain about it that much, but still. The full-sized renders in x & y didnt look nearly as young.

Aside from all that I'm still greatly enjoying it. Just disappointed cosmetically.

 

[*M i d n a*]

I don't know, it seemed to me like it was missing some stuff and had some repetitive Pokemon. For example, a few routes offered the same Pokemon to hunt and catch, they could have at least offered different Pokemon in the routes. The story was meh, I think HG and X/Y, and ORAS's story was way better. I did like Team Skull, though. I don't like the new shiny sparkle thingy, I think the old style is better. And I surely hate the fact that most Pokemon now have plenty of other moves to defend themselves from Pokemon that they are vulnerable against. In my own opinion, I think the UBs forms suck, maybe the first one doesn't look that bad, but the others, I thought, looked horrible design-wise.

Last, I can't believe the game wasn't able to communicate with the previous games, so as to allow us to transfer some Pokemon. They could have at least offered that option after beating the game. And godamn it, I wanted to quest around with Mawile as my team captain at least part of the journey, but that Pokemon, and many others, were left out. Yeah, it was a sad day...

Overall I think the game is good, but the previous ones were better. Now I won't touch the game till January, which is when I'll be able to transfer other Pokemon.

 

[Spirit]

Ive only played through the first island. Its much better balanced than ORAS. It was fairly annoying that the whole first island seemed to be an overlong tutorial and the trial i did seemed to be too desperate to differentiate itself from gym battles of old while still kind of feeling similar.

I sodding hate the calling for help mechanic that wild pokemon do. It can be good for levelling but it can also be a pain in the arse endurance test when you dont have the time or want to be bothered.

I like that you can summon ride pokemon. Its a good way around the HM problem.

Also is it just me or does it seem like running safely from wild encounters has a much lower success rate this time?

So far its much better than ORAS but i wouldnt say it was better than X/Y.

 

[*M i d n a*]

Ive only played through the first island. Its much better balanced than ORAS. It was fairly annoying that the whole first island seemed to be an overlong tutorial and the trial i did seemed to be too desperate to differentiate itself from gym battles of old while still kind of feeling similar.

I sodding hate the calling for help mechanic that wild pokemon do. It can be good for levelling but it can also be a paon in the arse endurance test when you dont have the time or want to be bothered.

I like that you can summon ride pokemon. Its a good way around the HM problem.

Also is it just me or does it seem like running safely from wild encounters has a much lower success rate this time?

So far its much better than ORAS but ibeouldnt say it was better than X/Y.

Yeah I hate that HELP mechanic. It was a pain in the ass for a while, but I learned that's a way to farm for shinies with better odds of them appearing. But before I realized that, I just started knocking out Pokemon with moves that hit both of them. Problem solved.

 

[el :BeoWolf:]

Overall, Pokémon Sun was an ok game as far as I've played so far. Currently at the elite 4. The story was decent. I loved that we no longer needed HM's and could just call on ride Pokémon. A few things I didn't like were the call for help mechanic, it was nice for more exp, but was more annoying than anything. Would have rather that be only for the totem Pokémon. I also was rather bugged by how the player's face NEVER ******* CHANGES, seldom a few cutscenes. Created a real disconnect for me. Overall ORAS are better then Sun and Moon imo