[DISCUSSION] My Initial Thoughts of the "Sun & Moon" Sequels

[0kamii]

Hey, everybody! It's 0kamii, and just because I'm in charge of Amethyst 0mega now doesn't mean I won't be bringing you guys regular content anymore!

Well, well, well. It seems as though Nintendo opted to continue their streak of not being overly predictable. I think it's fair to say that everyone, myself included, anticpated something along the same vein as Pokemon Stars, or even Pokemon Eclipse. Personally, I think Eclipse would've been the coolest name for a Pokemon game since Pokemon Colosseum, but pardon my Orre boy coming out. Instead however, news dropped of a Pokemon Ultra Sun  and Pokemon Ultra Moon. My friend first notified me of this yesterday at about 3:00pm EST, and since I was with my partner at the time (who's not a pokemon fan, by the way), we figured we'd watch it to see what the hype was about. Frankly, I have to say I currently have mixed feeling about these games.

It may be too early to make a definitive judgment on the Gen 7 sequels, in fact I'm sure it's too soon. But this is the source of all the buzz in the Pokemon Community right now, so I figured I'd weigh in. Not to start on a sour note, I want to go over what I liked about the short trailer we saw:

The Good:

I'm thrilled that we're getting another Pokemon game so soon. I knew that Sun and Moon were going to be a hit. So the follow-up was inevitable. I'm just glad to see that we don't have to wait a whole two-some years before the next game. I'll take Novemeber. Another that I really liked from the trailer is that it seems as though Togedemaru is getting its own Z-move. In case it wasn't obvious by this point, I'm a huge fan of the Electric Mouse pokemon, (including Emolga). Seeing the Roly-Poly pokemon getting special treatment really made my day, and I'm anxious to see just how it plays out in the coming months. Maybe Togedemaru will finally get its own VGC analysis? Who knows? On that note, we caught glimpses of Lycanroc-Midday and Mimikyu getting unique Z-moves as well. That's exciting, but not nearly as much as Togedemaru. Not to me anyway.

The other major thing that I really liked about the trailer was that it looks as though they've given the Unova treatment to Alola. I'm not sure how much time as passed since the first games, but clearly the population has boomed in Alola, and there's a surge of pokemon see throughout the trailer. This is very interesting, and it may have something to do with the completion of the Alola League. But we'll just have to see what kind of trainers decide to meander over to Melemele Island to find out. Aside from the revamped aesethic of our home, and subsequently the rest of Alola, the graphic quality is as good as it's always been. It is good to see Nintendo shoot for the quality standards they always have.

And the last majot thing that piqued my interest from the trailer was the inclusion of the supposed Necrozma fusions. I seem to be in the minority when I say...I like Generation 5! Unova was one of the regions to which I grew the most attached, and I'm even Nuzlocking Black 2 right now. Therefore, I relished seeing the concept of Pokemon Fusions being given a second try. No one really seemed to like the Kyurem fusions, and as I recall they were so powerful they were banned in almost every outlet except Uber and recreationals. Not only that, but I love Necrozma. I anticipated getting him from the moment I saw it, and I proudly captured mine with a Synchronized Modest nature and named him Albveryxia. He's a total beast...or is he? That's another thing I'm looking forward to. We never got a clear answer on whether or not Necrozma is an Ultra Beast. Hopefully, these new games will shed a bit of light on that. I'd very curious to know Necrozma's origins, and why he's seems to be so different from the other Legendaries in the games.

Overall, I think there's a lot to love. However...

The Bad:

The main thing that gave me mixed feelings about the trailer in the first place, aside from being at the end of a rather obnoxiously long trailer for the new Pokken Tournament, is that Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon aren't just what we didn't expected. They're also what we didn't want. When I say that, I don't mean it in a bad way. What I mean is that when people started speculating about what would follow the first Alola games, names like Eclipse were thrown around so much that it built up the community's expectations, almost to the point of paragonism. Then, when the sequel were dropped on us yesterday, I can't be the only one that was disappointed by the U-turn. Like I said earlier, it's still too early to say for sure whether the games are going to satify the fans, but speaking for myself...I sort of felt ignored by Nintendo. I wanted a Pokemon Eclipse, and instead we got these. Is it just me?

Another thing that sort of off-put me about the trailer is the apparent lack of new features. I know the whole trailer was only a few seconds, ten I think at most, but this really makes me think that the games are going to focus so much on story that there'll be little to no expansion of the game's mechanics. I know that user @"Anabel"/ @Anabel 2 already commented on this, but I feel it deserves a rehash. The inclusion of PokeRide was a godsend, and I think we can all agree that the Battle Royal needs a few changes to be enjoyable. But the trailer was just so empty of substance. Basically, and again I know it already, the point of the trailer was to tell us that there's a new game on the way. And that's it. I get it, but I still would've liked a bit more filling. Hints at new Alolan forms? An answer for that conspicuous little island in the upper-righthand corner of the Alolan map that we can't go to and know nothing about? Something, Nintendo! But again, maybe it's just me. Only time will tell.

Well regardless of how I make it sound. I'm definitely excited for the new games. It's very likely that I'll wind up eating my words on this topic as soon as more information comes out, but for now those are my initial opinions on Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Overall there's a lot of good, but thus far there's also a lot to be desired. We'll just have to see.

Anyway, how does the rest of Amethyst 0mega feel about this? Hey @wartty, @RetroTyphlosion, and @TestarudoRi...what are your initial opinions of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon ? Thanks everyone for reading, and I'll read you all later. Battle onwards, friends!

- 0kamii