Pokemon Sun and Moon
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It took 20 minutes to get my starter, but after 2 hours of playing the game, I still felt stuck in a hand-holding tutorial. Hell, I still feel like I am. In red and blue, once you got past the Old Man who teaches you to catch Pokemon, I felt like I was let to play the game without being told what to do all the time.WeepingAngels said:
7 hours and 52 minutes of playtime, and i'm still bogged down by tutorials forcing me down a very linear path. Sun and Moon are starting to look like Final Fantasy 13 with each passing day.
Two hours is a bit of an exaggeration, but it was close to an hour for me, and I was sitting there playing with my partner and making sure she could see what was going on.WeepingAngels said:
Spoilers not for content, I keep it vague and mostly just say cutscene or the basic actions you can take, but for length. A list of what it takes to get your first pokemon:
It starts off with a 3 minute, not fast forwardable cutscene of the Professor welcoming you. And by not fast forwardable I mean you can't just press A to have the text appear and move on to the next text message, its synced with animations and takes a while.
Then, you select your name and base image, which has more cutscene to go along with it.
Then, there's a story cutscene that goes for about another minute.
Then its another 2 minute cutscene of your mother and pet.
Then, after 7 minutes of playing this damned game, you finally get to take your first action. And all that it is, is to get out of bed, and walk downstairs.
Then its another 40 second cutscene.
Then your second interaction for the game; walk 10 steps closer to the door.
Then another cutscene for 2 minutes
Then a small walk upstairs and collecting a hat and bag.
Then another minute of cutscene, which includes you automatically walking downstairs with no control.
Then you get to walk out the door, and try to find the professor. He gave you no instructions on how to follow him, but he tells you if you're going the wrong way, then a good 5-10 second fade to black and put you closer to him.
Then its another 30 second cutscene and teleportation.
Then you get to walk up a very linear path for another 30 seconds.
Then its another couple of minutes of cutscene.
Then you get your first real opportunity to do any level of exploring; you're in a small town, and can look around a bit, but need to walk out the top end of town. And yes, this one small town with maybe 4 buildings counts as a lot of exploration for this point in the game. Until then, for the first nearly 15 minutes of the game, you've been confined to your house, and a very short, linear road with no features.
Once you've crossed the town, you walk up that curvy road from the demo. Its empty this time. During this there are a couple of short, 5 second cutscenes that I'll just discount.
Then there's a 30 second cutscene. Then you walk 5 steps. Then another 30 second cutscene.
Then you get a staggered walk for another 10 steps or so.
Then another couple minutes of cutscene.
Then literally 2 steps of walking, and another 2 minute cutscene.
Then you finally get to pick your pokemon.
After that, its a short battle with your friend/rival, and a ton more cutscenes before another battle the same, and a ton more cutscenes, then a shopping trip, then a ton more cutscenes...
Then, you select your name and base image, which has more cutscene to go along with it.
Then, there's a story cutscene that goes for about another minute.
Then its another 2 minute cutscene of your mother and pet.
Then, after 7 minutes of playing this damned game, you finally get to take your first action. And all that it is, is to get out of bed, and walk downstairs.
Then its another 40 second cutscene.
Then your second interaction for the game; walk 10 steps closer to the door.
Then another cutscene for 2 minutes
Then a small walk upstairs and collecting a hat and bag.
Then another minute of cutscene, which includes you automatically walking downstairs with no control.
Then you get to walk out the door, and try to find the professor. He gave you no instructions on how to follow him, but he tells you if you're going the wrong way, then a good 5-10 second fade to black and put you closer to him.
Then its another 30 second cutscene and teleportation.
Then you get to walk up a very linear path for another 30 seconds.
Then its another couple of minutes of cutscene.
Then you get your first real opportunity to do any level of exploring; you're in a small town, and can look around a bit, but need to walk out the top end of town. And yes, this one small town with maybe 4 buildings counts as a lot of exploration for this point in the game. Until then, for the first nearly 15 minutes of the game, you've been confined to your house, and a very short, linear road with no features.
Once you've crossed the town, you walk up that curvy road from the demo. Its empty this time. During this there are a couple of short, 5 second cutscenes that I'll just discount.
Then there's a 30 second cutscene. Then you walk 5 steps. Then another 30 second cutscene.
Then you get a staggered walk for another 10 steps or so.
Then another couple minutes of cutscene.
Then literally 2 steps of walking, and another 2 minute cutscene.
Then you finally get to pick your pokemon.
After that, its a short battle with your friend/rival, and a ton more cutscenes before another battle the same, and a ton more cutscenes, then a shopping trip, then a ton more cutscenes...
It takes you 20-30 minutes to get your starter, but that isn't the start of you being able to use it or explore freely. You're stuck in cutscene after cutscene for hours in the game, and that's trying to rush through it. The game slowly speeds up and gives you more freedom to do stuff, but slowly is the key word, and you'll still be blocked by cutscenes constantly, and need to follow the story - which is more obnoxious than in previous pokemon games where you also had to follow the story, because the story is far more defined now.
The game is still good and enjoyable, but it has its problems getting started. It takes about twice as long as Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire to get started. The biggest problem though is that even after you get your pokemon and can start playing... You're not able to actually just run off on your adventure like in Ruby/Sapphire. You are railroaded through a ton of cutscenes and are very limited in what you can do during that time.
But there are also a lot of things to like about the new generation, and gameplay changes that are pretty nice. There are also problems though.
I have, and by the time all the slow pokemon have attacked I've destroyed half of them with my super-fast pokemon (especially since Royale uses a lot of Swamperts and Torterras anyway, which are still faster than Alolan pokemon). Hell even using fragile shit like Aerodactyl and *ahem* a certain spoiler pokemon and I'm still coming out 5 - 1. If I can kill one before they kill me/kill one before they all gang up on me and spoil their plan, it's still a solid strategy.Yoshi178 said:
it's worth noting that the SOS mechanic is the new "chaining" mechanic with each time help is called it has a better chance for having the hidden ability, having better IVs, or being shinyWeaver said:
edit: On topic, I finished the game last night and I think it might be my favorite pokemon game since second gen. It does take some time to get moving but once the story picks up it's probably the best story the series has had. I haven't dug much into the post game but it seems like it's going to be better than X and Y's post game
The tutorials are annoying for me at this point, but it seems to be fun as Pokemon always is. But now I need to train up 2 "B Teams" to leave behind in my copies of AS and Y so that I can still do stuff with them and send the rest of my Pokemon to Sun in January when the Bank allows for it.
I am not enjoying the game. Thats a fact. Others in this very topic have also expressed annoyances at feeling very rail-roaded by the game. If you feel differently, good for you. I wish I was enjoying the game like you seem to, but I am not. And I am certainly a rather devoted fan otherwise.Kibeth41 said:
Sun/Moon general thread or complaint thread or...? Who cares. Long as OP does not mind me speaking my mind. Long story short I love the game. At the very least its better than X and Y but thats a very low bar. I am unhappy with a lot of balance changes and very happy with others so competitively speaking its an oddball game. Frankly I do not mind if the game wants to be cutscene heavy. Unfortunately everyone has her limit and this game pushed mine, especially in the beginning. Sweet Arceus if you want to tell me a tale I enjoy some length but this is not a good way of going about it. Characters? Awesome. Hau is a shitty battler with some bad AI that was particularly annoying during his double battle with me. His damn raichu had all the right moves and it seemed to intentionally use them at the wrong time but the character himself is too nice and Lillie is to. They all have their charms and the Unova trainer cameos made me as happy as can be. Smaller generation seems to be the new trend and im not sure I like it but then it does make thing tigher. I liked or tolerated a majority of the designs in X and Y and that note got higher with Sun and Moon. I honestly dont hate much of anything in the game design wise except a certain thing. The area captures the relaxed tropic appeal of Hoenn and is fairly unique despite. The pokemon are great. The aside from persian none of the alola pokemon bothered me not counting grimer/muk who I never liked to begin with and the aforementioned cat. Speaking of cats the litten line could have gone better to but thats just me and I dont dislike incineroar.
Other than cutscenes my biggest complaint and the most spoiler like one for the few people not aware is the Ultra Beasts.
From the start they bothered me design wise with Nihilego being my instant favourite by virtua of being the only design I liked and it only got worse from there. You've been warned before I got one for the people in my own head who actually care and probably no one else. Anyway onward we go.
As bosses they are a fantastic new concept!....That you do not ever face prior to Solgaleo/Lunala. Don't get me wrong, I really like the battles with Skull, the Totem Pokemon and others but I figured i'd of face more than one UB before the mascot battle and to be honest after I saw the leak and saw the shiny variants part of me was slowly forced to accept them as pokemon but another secretly hoped that shiny versions only existing as a way to prevent the game crashing. Sadly thats not the case. So the Ultra Beasts are a bit weird for me even as a long time pokemon fan.
So overall could be better could be worse, better than X and Y, a lot of fun. Unlike X and Y I could do it all again a second time and even if on the second run more problems started to show like the cutscene thing and its still a fun game. I know I need a new 3DS system since mine is old and has some problems but GameFreak did not have to remind me. By that I mean on the oldest model 3DS has some serious frame rate issues in double battles and while the others and very very minor that is far too noticable. Maybe this counts as holding the games back and maybe it does not, I don't know. People say this with console games and ive never really fully understood that but maybe this is a good example. X/Y also had some bad framerates during hordes.
Oh! I'm also glad 3D mode was taken out from all but the camera since sometimes I accidentally brush the 3D button on the 3DS and come back to find not my beloved critters but a strange case of my eyes bleeding, head screaming and stomach saving me time by committing seppuku itself without the need of me grabbing a knife so thankfully thats not possible in Sun/Moon.
Other than cutscenes my biggest complaint and the most spoiler like one for the few people not aware is the Ultra Beasts.
From the start they bothered me design wise with Nihilego being my instant favourite by virtua of being the only design I liked and it only got worse from there. You've been warned before I got one for the people in my own head who actually care and probably no one else. Anyway onward we go.
As bosses they are a fantastic new concept!....That you do not ever face prior to Solgaleo/Lunala. Don't get me wrong, I really like the battles with Skull, the Totem Pokemon and others but I figured i'd of face more than one UB before the mascot battle and to be honest after I saw the leak and saw the shiny variants part of me was slowly forced to accept them as pokemon but another secretly hoped that shiny versions only existing as a way to prevent the game crashing. Sadly thats not the case. So the Ultra Beasts are a bit weird for me even as a long time pokemon fan.
So overall could be better could be worse, better than X and Y, a lot of fun. Unlike X and Y I could do it all again a second time and even if on the second run more problems started to show like the cutscene thing and its still a fun game. I know I need a new 3DS system since mine is old and has some problems but GameFreak did not have to remind me. By that I mean on the oldest model 3DS has some serious frame rate issues in double battles and while the others and very very minor that is far too noticable. Maybe this counts as holding the games back and maybe it does not, I don't know. People say this with console games and ive never really fully understood that but maybe this is a good example. X/Y also had some bad framerates during hordes.
Oh! I'm also glad 3D mode was taken out from all but the camera since sometimes I accidentally brush the 3D button on the 3DS and come back to find not my beloved critters but a strange case of my eyes bleeding, head screaming and stomach saving me time by committing seppuku itself without the need of me grabbing a knife so thankfully thats not possible in Sun/Moon.
The intention is discussion of Sun and Moon overall, but obviously what people do and do not like are going to be the initial motivators. Plus people have to play through the game long enough before they can discuss certain things. I am finding myself unmotivated to keep playing, but I dont know what I may have yet to encounter that I will like or dislike that I am unaware of.PurplePonyArcade said:
Plus most of my personal enjoyment comes from the post game. I got a few hundred hours in X, but most of it was me having fun completing my Pokedex and raising pokemon after beating the plot. If I can bare to get through to the end, maybe I will eventually have fun, but I certainly would prefer to enjoy the journey to that point too.
I watch Duncankneedeeps youtube channel, he is the inventor of the now popular Free-For-All pokemon gametype on youtube.Wrex Brogan said:
he's started doing Battle Royales now as well as Free-For-Alls and he's been noticing alot of the time that him and his friends don't OHKO often and it's usually the person with the extremely slow pokemon that ends up stealing the kills from people just because the speedy mons usually get that 1 really strong attack in, and then the slow mon can easily come in and snipe the kill, stealing the point from the person with the speedy pokemon who did most of the damage with its strong attack
My only two complaints: having a cutscene every 5 steps and the new pokemon being rare as fuck.
While the first has been brought up a lot in this topic, I feel complaint 2 hasn't so I'll go into this more. Outside of this gens pidgey, rattata and bug, they are extremely hard to find. You can only get a Mareanie from waiting until a Corsola calls one for help. Plus I was running around the ghost trial place for an hour after I beat it and no Mimikyu.
While the first has been brought up a lot in this topic, I feel complaint 2 hasn't so I'll go into this more. Outside of this gens pidgey, rattata and bug, they are extremely hard to find. You can only get a Mareanie from waiting until a Corsola calls one for help. Plus I was running around the ghost trial place for an hour after I beat it and no Mimikyu.
I have heard about the slowdowns, they don't seem as frequent as Diamond and Pearl's, they were my least favorite because of being a chore to play (the HP bar would take forever to go down in a one-hit K.O.), thankfully Platinum came along to be one of my favorites, but since we live in an era of patches, no more third versions, it seems.
From an outsiders perspective, it sounds like some of you are just experiencing burn out on the series. They all play similarly and the more exposure, the more nagging the negative aspects seem each time.
I will buy it next week and come back with more thoughts on that topic, since I haven't played a pokemon game since Crystal on the Gameboy pocket.
I will buy it next week and come back with more thoughts on that topic, since I haven't played a pokemon game since Crystal on the Gameboy pocket.
I think it's mostly the lack of spin-offs and such to break the pace, no Stadium or Mystery Dungeon games or Ranger, only Pokk?n and Rumble (Wii U exclusives), two 3DS Free-to-play games and some other apps that never came out of Japan. People getting introduced to this franchise are playing only the main games and they'll be burned out quickly.Elijin said:
Its a week later and I purchased the game.
I stand by my statement. You guys are just burnt out on the series, and thus more critical of minor or non-issues due to exposure.
So far my only real significant negative that I've taken away is simply a lack of engagement compared to the old days. But that's not the game's fault. Back then Pok?mon was a morning TV show, and a big thing to my generation. These days I couldn't name any of the new pokemon for many many geneations. So, it lacks the same level of magic, but in a way which isn't particularly the games fault, nor is it an interest killer
Follow on side note, blind playing a pokemon game is interesting. Just capturing something because "hey, what the heck is that.....lets catch it." is a refreshing experience.
I stand by my statement. You guys are just burnt out on the series, and thus more critical of minor or non-issues due to exposure.
So far my only real significant negative that I've taken away is simply a lack of engagement compared to the old days. But that's not the game's fault. Back then Pok?mon was a morning TV show, and a big thing to my generation. These days I couldn't name any of the new pokemon for many many geneations. So, it lacks the same level of magic, but in a way which isn't particularly the games fault, nor is it an interest killer
Follow on side note, blind playing a pokemon game is interesting. Just capturing something because "hey, what the heck is that.....lets catch it." is a refreshing experience.
I keep being reminded why I dont like this game. I always enjoyed capturing pokemon, and in that regard I am enjoying it, except when they call for help EVERY ROUND.Elijin said:
Im really tired of how painfully linear the game is. STOP WITH FALSE BARRIERS. A girl on a giant dog being like "could you just not go this way?" even though she isnt really blocking anything, or a trainer who says "Want to battle? Its ok if you dont want to?" then are given a Yes/No, but if you say no and try to proceed, they still fucking block you!
And the clothing options suck.