Pokemon Sun

I want to preface all of this by saying I’m less than a third through the game (as far as I know), I’ve been taking my time and being completion-ist about it. My point is that this review is incomplete and is just my first impressions and thoughts, I will do a follow up next week when I am further through the game.

 Pokémon Sun is the latest instalment in the Pokémon series. The game came out Friday, and I’ve played 13 hours, I like it. I don’t think it’s the best Pokémon game, but it’s definitely a good addition to the series. In particular I think it is the best intro game to the series since leaf green and fire red, so if you’ve never played Pokémon this is a good one to start with. I don’t think anyone is really unfamiliar with Pokémon. I’ve been playing Pokémon since I was 3, it basically taught me to read. I recommend Pokémon.

The Plot

The standard Pokémon plot is pretty straight forward. You are an 11 year old son/daughter of a single unemployed mother who recently moved to a new region, you are introduced to a Pokémon Professor named after a tree of some sort. He gives you a choice between 3 starters Pokémon (water, fire, grass) and tells you to wander the region participating in dogfights for money while capturing as many wild Pokémon as you can. This is apparently normal, your mom just accepts it, and off you go. You go through challenging a series of gyms, each type themed, on the path to a Pokémon league (where you fight 4 more type themed bosses and then a champion). On the side there is an evil team of bad guys who steal Pokémon and usually want to use one of the legendries of the world to enact some large scale, poorly thought out, change to the world. It’s pretty straight forward as games go, they are well designed, with good level scaling, and plenty of small side quests and Easter eggs throughout the game.

Pokémon Sun and Moon are special as the first Pokémon games without the gym system, instead replacing it the trials system. There are 4 islands each with its own set of trials and one ruling “Kahuna”, who are basically the elite 4, just spread out through the story.  The trials I’ve tried have thus far been pretty random; fetch quests, weird picture matching mini games, and some straight battling, and at the end of each trial there is a totem Pokémon, basically a buffed version of what you have fought so far.

Oh and someone needs to confirm this for me, the Professor is introduced as your cousin, but he calls your mother “Mom”, and looks way more like her than most of the character models, is your “Mom” your aunt? Is her first name “Mom”? Who is this lady that you live with?

The new Pokémon bad guys are Team Skull, they are my favourite team to date. This edition they went straight gangsta for their bad guy theme and tis amazing. Previously we have seen straight organized crime, environmental terrorism, some weird cabal evil group, but never straight gangsta (and I mean it spelt like that and done in the most ridiculous way). I mean like they heard the song “I’m a Gangsta” and decided to base their aesthetic around that. You need to google videos of them, they do weird gangsta hand motions, constantly, they never stop, their scenes take me 10 minutes to get through cause I just let them sit, gesturing, while I laugh. I have no idea what their goal is, but I want to fight them more.

Mechanics

Alright the special question of what’s different? Pokémon doesn’t often change their game style, at least up until X and Y, and not counting the console Coliseum games (and I guess Pokken Tournument now). But there have a been a few major changes;

1. They got rid of HMs instead letting you page ride-able Pokémon to perform what are basically the HMs
2. Z power things give certain Pokémon super moves of a given type (that of the Z stone held item), they function on the same mechanics as the mega evolutions from previous games. I am unsure if mega evolutions made it into these games.
3. They took away the X and Y location pokedex thing of goodness
4. Wild Pokémon can now call in allies to make it a 2 on one fight (fuck you magby, so hard, and mudbray)
5. The gym and progression system is obviously very different
6. Certain Pokémon now have separate Alola versions of them. They have new types and very pretty colors, I really like most of them, even if they look like fan art.
7. Miltank and Tauros are now officially linked the pokedex as the male and female parts of the same species. This was pretty shocking to me.
8. The daycare no longer trains your Pokémon, just lets them breed there.
9. Your Pokedex is now inhabited by a Rotom, making it a sentient helper you keep in your pocket who shows you your map and provides help. I don’t know how I feel about that.
10. The campaign is way more objective based, and there are a ton more cut scenes. You have an active objective marker on your map at all times pointing you in a direction.
11. Your starting rival buddy now chooses the Pokémon with the type disadvantage to you, as opposed to advantage, making him way less threatening for those ambushes. I have yet to find a third rival with the other starter, so looks like you’re just set up to better, he seems okay with that.

Overall it’s set up as an easier experience overall than the average Pokémon game, though the totem Pokémon can be a bit tough. It still keeps everything intact, while introducing just enough to make it feel like a new experience.

But Here’s the Thing

It’s not as good as X and Y. I think it’s better than pearl/diamond and the black/white series, but that’s it (and I know that is personal preference). There were some interesting steps forward and some odd steps backward.

First and foremost, the “calling allies for help” mechanic is frustrating bullshit. Basically it works this way, you are fighting a wild Pokémon and they can call for help, if successful they are joined by a second Pokémon to help them out. You cannot throw a pokeball so long as there are more than one enemy Pokémon, and they can continuously call new allies, as can the allies that come in. I fought a Magby for fucking half an hour because it continuously summoned allies, and there was nothing I could do about it. Zubats can do it, and it’s awful. I mean it’s great for training; I went up like 3 levels trying to catch that fucking Magby.

Not to mention the totem Pokémon, you can’t catch any Pokémon while in a trial, but the totem Pokémon would be great to be able to catch, as would half the Pokémon you encounter in those trials. The totem Pokémon are some of the worst for prolonging battles with allied Pokémon, and I personally thing the mechanic should be restricted to just the totem Pokémon. It’s annoying but it’s a boss, its way more aggravating when it’s some tiny runt.

A weird note that one of the random NPCs actually points out; they live in the “Alola” region, but also use “Alola” to say both hello and goodbye. I get that is Hawaii and it’s supposed to be “aloha” but it’s also the name of your country…

The HM thing works alright, I don’t know if the moves themselves still exist in game, but calling ride Pokémon works pretty well and stops you from needing to stock your team with HM slaves. Its also a ton of fun to ride around on the Pokémon.

They also kept the thing from X and Y where you get exp from catching Pokémon, which makes a huge difference. It is in my mind the tied for the best Pokémon innovation, with the decision to make the Exp Share an item that shares exp with everyone on your team not just a held item. I do seem to remember was set up the good way (because no held items) but it definitely has switched back and forth before.

I want to talk about the Rotom dex, there has always been a debate about Pokémon and their sentience. Pokémon are functionally slaves, and the economy revolves around the exploitation of Pokémon and their abilities. Your Rotom is very clearly fully sentient will full on feelings, it moves by itself, and lives in your pocket to point you vaguely in the right direction and tell you advice, and that is terrifying. I mean its not something I want to think about too hard, but when it is literally winking at me while I play the game on my lower screen, its real weird.

Also for the first time ever I’ve been having frame rate issues with a Pokémon game. Maybe its cause I’m playing on a 2DS, but I feel like this game went the extra mile and I’m not sure the hardware can really keep up. It is gorgeous for a Pokémon game to be fair, the nicest looking in series thus far.

I love the game, as I said, I’ve had it for something like 36 hours and I’ve played 13 so… its addicting, and at the end of the day is a Pokémon game, a Pokémon game with significant, mostly positive, changes, it’s worth checking out.

Also just watch Team Skull gesture, it’s amazing.