Pokemon Sun and Moon - most childish game of the series

As someone who's played Pokemon since Gen I, and have played Pokemon SuMo since it came out in November 2016, I thought it best I express my general disappointment in the game.

On this post I will crystallize the main issues and missteps with Pokemon Sun and Moon. In my opinion, they have generally regressed in important areas from previous games. I will point out what I believe to be major flaws. Below that I have also pointed out the best parts, although I am sure that some additions have been missed.

[1] 

The bad stuff

1) The whole game serves as a hand-holding, railroading tutorial simulator

• This was my personal number one issue with the game. If a game needs a detailed, multiple hour-long, never-ending tutorial, then maybe there's an issue with the game design. Why not transgress as old games did, and ramp up difficulty slowly, adding in new tactics and strategies as you go, removing the need for a tutorial. Trial by slow-burning fire 
• It is a pointless exercise; children played Pokemon games for 20 years without handholding like this. Pokemon games have never been too hard to understand. The under-the-hood RPG stuff is poorly explained within game anyway, and isn't clear until dataminers and testers work out how game mechanics function 
• For something with an ever-complex meta-game it seems strange the game continues to dumb itself down 
• How to fix it: 
1. Have expert mode which skips tutorial and handholding crap
2. Have veterans mode which functions as 'New game +', without having to finish the game first. This would skip tutorial mode, as well as making the game harder; i.e. higher level opponents, better tactics, Battle Maison AI 

2) Not enough new Pokemon

• No one wants to run into Wingulls okay? We didn't like it in Gen III, and we don't like it four generations later 
• Create new Pokemon 
• Not enough Alolan variants, which was very disappointing 
• This point is a foreshadowing of the lack of game content 'post-game' 
• How to fix it: 
1. Create new Pokemon 

3) Low encounter rates for Pokemon, even if they are new Pokemon.

• No DexNav? Come on GameFreak. This was the best thing you've done. It removed the tedium of catching Pokemon YOU already own. It made you feel like running into Pokemon and catching/killing them was actually benefiting you in the long run, because you get to know the Pokemon more; how they react, where they hide, what to look for. This was a true RPG element in play. Removing this not only dumbs down the RPG element, but reincorporates the grind of looking for Pokemon 
• How to fix it: 
1. Bring back DexNav OR 
2. Ala Point 2, new Pokemon are the only ones you can run into. It's no fun playing the game where you still find Magikarp. This is a new region, why are Kanto Pokemon the most common? 

4) S.O.S. battles are annoying

• This is the most annoying game mechanic when you're trying to catch a Pokemon, then it continues to call Pokemon in a never-ending stream. Yes I know you can inflict status on the desired Pokemon but not all my Pokemon carry status moves. It's a frustrating mechanic that makes catching Pokemon feel like a chore. 
• I like the idea of it, but its current implementation is not good 
• DexNav > S.O.S. battles 
• How to fix it: 
1. If a Pokemon has been fainted that turn, they can't call for help. 
2. Raise successful call chance so calling fails less 
3. Be able to catch Pokemon when another Pokemon is on the field to continue chains 
4. Combine DexNav searching with these new S.O.S. mechanics 

5) Super training only at level 100?

• How are we suppose to get to level 100? 
• Festival Plaza method of raising to 100 is tedious while being creative within the confines of the system 
• There are no high level Pokemon to battle 
• Only 1 lucky egg available? 
• No EXP O-Powers? 
• Obviously no exploitable Blissey secret bases
• Why do we need to get to level 100? Battles are set to level 50 
• How to fix it: 
1. Give us a supply of high-levelled Pokemon we can battle. Level gaining requires experience. Give us that opportunity

6) Lack of overall game and post-game content

• I don't think anyone will argue how flat the game feels after completion. There is really not much to do at all. 
• OR/AS had the Delta Episode plus all the legendaries, soaring etc 
• X and Y had Looker missions, legendaries to catch, Pokeradar 
• Black and White had all the rebattling of gym leaders and past champions 
• FireRed and LeafGreen had Sevii Islands (probably best post-game content ever besides Johto's) 
• Gold, Silver and Crystal had Johto AND Red 
• How to fix it: 
1. Create post-game content. FFS the National Dex wasn't even included. 

7) Alolan-Marowak evolves at level 28, yet learns its signature move Shadow Bone at 27

• This is indicative of other gameplay design choices within the game: 
• Crabrawler is obtained early in the game and has 338 base stats. It is useless for most of the game until you can evolve it in VICTORY ROAD. So your team carries the useless crab for MOST of the game (due to the poor amounts of postgame content) before it evolves into something with utility 
• Charjabug is also obtained early, and won't evolve until Poni Canyon towards the very end of the game. WHY GAMEFREAK? WHY? Not one but TWO Pokemon like this at the beginning of the game 
• If this was done on purpose, it's stupid and poor game design. These shitty Pokemon aren't even worth waiting a whole game for. Tyranitar, Dragonite, even mid-game Gyarados: those are Pokemon worth waiting for. They take a long time to carry, but they pay off immensely 
• Honestly I'm not surprised anymore. I get there is a lot of little things that can be overlooked with a game that contains this much content, but screwing up the core game experience is unacceptable 
• How to fix it: 
1. We're happy to wait for a later release if it means GameFreak will get things right 
2. If done on purpose, it's bad game design 

8) Layout

• OR/AS had two amazing points regarding layout 
• Great use of the bottom screen (DexNav, seeing EVs, watching the news etc) 
• Pressing X to exit menus completely (out of PC, out of Pokemon screen, items etc) 
• Why in SuMo do we only get a Rotom that shifts around annoyingly when you accidentally touch it while trying to access the map? The map sucks (Point 6) and is useless most of the time 
• How to fix it: 
1. Why not use L+R and be able to change bottom screens and scroll through a list of useable tools?You could have Pokemon Refresh access, DexNav, the Map if you so require, etc. 

9) Confusing map

• The maps are confusing. There is no clear path on where they really connect to each other. Gone are the days where you can simply fly to a route or a town that makes sense on an overhead map 
• Fly zones are gravity wells, and pull your curser towards them. This makes it hard to navigate between two fly adjacent points 
• You also can't see where you are on the map sometimes, which is SUPER annoying
• How to fix it 
1. Make the maps simpler. There's no other way to fix this. It's a design flaw. 
2. Put the happy face cursor or whatever it is, a layer above the map, or transparently 

I'm actually in the Pokemon Centre where the red arrrow is, but you can barely even see
 the yellow cursor. Why is that? It's hard to discern my actual location.

On zoomed in map, still can barely see my location

On local map I can see my location. Why isn't this the case on the world map?

Compare that to Pokemon OR/AS:

The Hoenn map is simple and even though it's "linear" it doesn't feel confusing or
misleading, nor can you get confused about how to get from point A to point B.
The map is simple, as GameFreak are obviously pushing towards, without
being the confusing mess of islands that make up Pokemon SuMo.

10) Not enough PC space

• 32 boxes or 960 total space, not including Party or Battle Boxes just doesn't cut it
• What we need PCs to store:
• 802 total spaces in the case of a living Pokedex
• Regional/local variants such as  Vivillon patterns, Vulpix or Gastrodon
• Multiples of legendaries
• At minimum one box dedicated to eggs and breeding
• High IV stocks of different breeding groups
• Shinies
• Prepackaged Pokemon that are useful in GTS trading
• Is this an attempt at getting us to sign up to Pokebank all year round?

11) Many missing functional items

• Where are the rest of the Mega Stones? #StillNoMegaFlygon 
• Where are the type Gems besides the normal one? #CryingOverFlyingGems #acrobatics 
• Where are the Lucky Eggs besides the ONE you can get? 
• How to fix it: 
1. Go through previous games and see which items exist. 
2. Add those items to the game in one way or another. I don't care if they require battle points or money or markets on every second Sunday. 

12) GTS is still as useless as ever

• We've been requesting it for years now, all we want is to be able to SEE, FILTER and SEARCH Pokemon by:
• Abilities
• Held items
• Moves
• Nature
• Is that so hard?
• That little message down the bottom cannot be trusted. We want concrete data about the Pokemon we're trading

13) Trade ban on GTS when your internet cuts out

• This is unfair for players. Just do a quick google search and see the amount of NORMAL players who have been victimized by this issue.
• The 3DS has connectivity problems
• Internet isn't always perfect
• Why punish players who want to play, despite these issues and roadblocks?
• Alternative methods are required if you want to remove GTS cloning. Have an auto trade pre-save. Then save after. That way, if the connection fails, it won't matter, because it can just be resent.

14) Loss of OR/AS Egg route

• That auto-rotating egg route on Battle Resort island is so amazing. Why remove a quality of life feature?

15) No National Pokedex

• Just, why? 
• This shows how little actual content is in the game, that they couldn't be bothered with the National Pokedex 
• Since when did this not become a priority for the Pokemon series? 
• How to fix it: 
1. Be committed to post-game content, which includes maxing out the Pokedex. 

16) Clicking A to open doors

• Every other game has been fine without it 
• How to fix it: 
1. Keep it as it were in previous games 

17) Lags on old 3DS systems

• I know this is a bit nit-picky but it's not fair that even in normal battles the 3DS lags. Totem battles and double battles are torture 
• I only own a 3DS for Pokemon games only and it sucks that it can barely cope with Pokemon SuMo. I understand it's probably one of the last 3DS titles to come out, but it's marketed as a 3DS game, so it should run on it properly. 
• Yes I understand the future-proofing they've done regarding the beautiful-looking and complex high-polygon Pokemon models. It's good they are pushing limits, it shows. 
• How to fix it: 
1. If it's a New 3DS title, say that 

18) Festival Plaza is unyielding regarding coins

• The whole Festival Plaza is not implemented well 
• Tedious to gain Festival Coins 
• LOL to Global Missions which are a complete joke. We will never hit those impossible goals. Most casual players don't actually know how to start the Global Missions because IT'S TOO COMPLEX and hidden too deeply within Festival Plaza 
• I like the idea of Festival Plaza and cooperative play, but 
• How to fix it: 
1. Simplify FP; the majority of the castle staff should be either removed or placed outside where that lady gives you Festival Tickets 
2. Improve yields on FC 

The good stuff

Some changes are for the better however and I wanted to point them out too:

1) The IV judge in your PC

• This is my favourite thing

2) The game looks incredibly beautiful (when not lagging)

• Breeding Pokeballs is now a thing 
• Awesome for that extra element of customization 

3) The Pokeball from battle menu is epic

• The 'previously used item' was also a good shortcut in past generations 

4) The battle menu as a whole is much better

• The ability to see known information about your Pokemon and opponents is great (probably taken from Showdown lulz) 

5) Battle changes including

• Burn: Damage from 1/8th to 1/16th of the Pokémon's maximum Hit Points 
• Paralysis: Speed loss changed from 25% of original speed to 50% with thunderwave only having 90% accuracy 
• Confusion chance from 50% to 33% chance 

6) No HMs! Finally!

• They listened. Yay! 
• D-pad for insta-Charizard Fly! 
• Honestly, all the HMs were implemented flawlessly in this generation 

7) Poke Pelago

• I really like berry planting and basically all of Poke Pelago. It's a neat idea and I hope it continues. It's also nice to know we haven't locked Pokemon up in boxes for the rest of our short lives, while the God that crafted this universe, and the Lords of Time, Space and the Underworld sit there, eternally. 

8) Great dialogue

• The in-jokes and humour were really great. There are so many little jokes included within the game. "7.8/10 - Too much water
  
  

  

  Say no more [3]

9) From gyms to trials

• Very refreshing!

10) Menu-less PC system

• Now you don't have to go through as many button barriers to open your PC, which is such a great streamlining method.

Overall, the whole game felt like a chore and honestly, with the vast amount of missing features it felt like it was half-baked.

It's raw! Come on!

I am quite hesitant to bring my Generation VI and previous generation Pokemon (from Gen III) over because there is much more utility in OR/AS such as move tutors, readily available ability capsules, heart scales galore from PokeMiles, evolution stones etc. OR/AS may not have been a new gaming experience due to it being a remake, but they streamlined many of the most annoying aspects of the Pokemon series which didn't require hours of grinding and praying to the RNG Gods.


It's funny that a game with some of the best dialogue of the series, complete with inside jokes, meta-humour and nods to previous generations happens to be the most hand-holding and frustrating game in the Pokemon series. Not as deep and mature as Gen V, not as exhilarating as interesting/varied as Gen IV and X/Y, and not as long as Gen I. A constant barrage of 3 hour tutorials, no actual feeling of freedom and all the Zubats and Magikarps ironically made it feel alienating, and all the more annoying.



Because people like numbers, I give it 4/10.

Also, fuck Hau and Lillie, such annoying. Very wow. Hau always looks like he's getting a blowjob.

Yeah baby. Put it all in your mouth [3].

Sources



[1] http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/pokemonlp-utomaikeru/images/1/10/Pok%C3%A9mon_Sun_Moon_logo.png/revision/latest?cb=20160228111511
[2] https://miketendo64.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/1h.png?w=572&h=344
[3] https://i.redd.it/y2kcu4k0xdyx.jpg