Topic: Pokémon Sun & Moon - Discussion & Speculation

I'm gonna name him Malregios, a portmanteau of the owl Malfestio and feather (scale)-launching Seregios from Monster Hunter (latter even has a bit of the hood when all bristled up, and his Kinship attack in Stories looks like Decidueye's Z-move, but reversed).

Or you could just name him after your favourite owl/Fire Emblem archer.

I'm not going to be hesitant to mention pokemon names from this point forward. I won't say any plot details, don't read my post further if you don't want to learn names about new pokemon.

So I got the game last night at midnight launch and played it up to the 2nd totem. Sun and moon are byfar the most alive pokemon games I've ever experienced. I do feel like post game all these nooks and crannies for potions will seem pointless and feel like a BW, but who knows, I didn't finish the game to judge post game.

What I do know is the scenery is beautiful, the characters are just great, the music I could soundcloud and just play for hours in the background, and the pokemon themselves look way better ingame. One thing I do each gen is rush the story and exploration so I can pick up a particular pokemon I've had my eyes on, which was dewpider for this generation, but I didn't actually rush.. the scenery and region made kept me so occupied and interested I couldn't help but talk to everybody and explore each area as I go.

This game is just about perfect, there are only 2 major complaints I have and they're more opinionated or technical than anything. 1) It has kalos pokedex syndrome, where the game feels to liven up opponents, important characters, and routes with older gen pokemon rather than current gen (and the current gen feel so weak in comparison on their teams), and 2) Framerate drop...

Framerate drop is actually a big issue in sun and moon. I'm using a red New 3DS XL and when I encountered your typical twin double battle, the framerate was so bad during the battle until one of their pokemon went down. This is because both trainers are on the field, so a double battle has more models than a gen 6 triple battle (two of them, you, and the two pokemon on each side, thats 7 models compared to 6 in rotations or triples.)

Other than a nitpick and an issue with processing the game itself, GF did a good, almost perfect job with this generation. I'll have to keep playing and see what my post or mid game is about. Early game I never lost a pokemon but after the second totem I feel like I'm starting to struggle and suddenly the opponents are level creeping me when I was double them at one point. Right now I'm currently level grinding to try and get my dewpider to be at the same level as my brionne.

Oh and one more thing, whoever said the EXP share system was returning from BW.. I think they might've been either mistranslated or dumb because its the same as gen 6, a key item for your whole team.

@LegendOfPokemon RowRow

Wasn't the whole Gen5 exp thing about how the pokemon earn exp, and not about the exp share?

Just started this game (Moon version). It's unbelievably charming. Dropping the 3D for a more detailed visual style was definitely the right choice. I like 3D, but it's time to move on.

It's very easy to see how this game could have been built with a more powerful HD platform in mind for a near-future re-release. The game looks good on the 3DS, but with HD models and a stabilized frame rate, this game will look unbelievably gorgeous on the Switch (if the whole Pokemon Stars leak turns out to be true, at least, and it makes a lot of sense to me).

@Ralizah Actually, the Pokemon models themselves were apparently future-proofed with X/Y. Hence why the 3DS struggles to run the games. Gen 7's upgrades to the graphics just makes it worse.

Anyways, I've been playing it on my original launch 3DS. Framerate hasn't been too bad, but the game drains my battery VERY quickly.

@IceClimbers I noticed that too, I was surprised my 3DS died after about 2 hours playing.

This is normal with 3D enabled but this was with it disabled _{cause there is none}

I haven't made it that far since I'm still waiting on the steelbook dual pack to arrive at my house so I'm not too far ahead of my kids since my eldest wants to have a battle after every island trial. I haven't got to the Pokemon lab yet. But loving the graphics, the world and the fact you can send more than one item per day from the demo to the full game.

@MegaBeedrill Okay so the new interesting stuff is at the back again, and as a technical display it doesn't hold up. Lovely.

As for your EXP system thing, not the EXP Share, but the actual EXP gaining system is back to how it was in BW.

I named my female popplio Prima lol

A Pokemon Sun and Moon hakiu (that gives up rather quickly):

Ridiculous bloom.

Popplio named "Cadence," infinitely less of an ugly duckling after level 17.

Fashion.

I hate friend evolutions.

@IceClimbers Yeah, the character models still looked kinda bad last gen. This gen bumped up the character models and general environments bigly. I'm not surprised these games are chewing up the 3DS' battery like they are.

Are these games that the launch 3DS has to devote all of its power to running like Smash Bros?

@Ralizah Yup. The demo was that way too. I don't recall Smash Bros having that much of an effect on my battery life though.

@IceClimbers It's weird to think that a Pokemon game is straining the system more than something like Resident Evil Revelations did. That game looked like it belonged on a home console.

Ridiculous bloom,
A popplio named Cadence.
Wow, very Fashion.

I hate to say it but this battery drain might be a deal breaker for me i guess i could play it always hooked up to my charger but yeah i think i got 3 hours in no sound max brightness so i could turn the brightness down and maybe turn off the internet while i'm playing the story

First impressions aside from the technical details it feels so different tough to judge so far whether i like it or not. I've read on forums that some aren't liking the Gen 1 favoring this game does but i love it personally there's really not many Pokemon outside of Gen 1 and Gen 2 i'm that interested in and some of the designs after i think Gen 5 are getting a bit out of hand

I love the Pokemon Refresher so much no more buying antidotes and what have you for out of battle healing

Flash of golden wheat
Yungoos appears in the grass.
It's going to be yuge!

@canucksfan989 isn't 3 hours kinda standard for the 3DS?

@DefHalan I'll have to do a comparison from full battery to the first sign of red light but i feel like i was getting 4-5 hours of game play with Omega Ruby

I can somewhat already gather what is causing the extra battery use like Rotom on the lower screen quite a bit of animation compared to previous Pokemon games on the lower screen

I can't say the battery drain is worse than smash bros. That's debatable honestly.

And no, its due to better graphics, its due to more stuff on your screen the game has to process. There are more blades of grass, more NPCs, in battles there are way more animations and models to process (trainers), Z-move soak up energy like flooring the gas pedal of a car, this is just how weak the 3DS in general is (the new one mind you).

To say the least, if you're going on a long drive and playing this in the passenger, bring a car charger, you'll need it.

Anyway, this gen feels suuuuppppeeerrrr looooooonngg... idk if that's a good or bad thing. I want to say a good thing because the story is so vivid and the story isn't literally finished in 12 hours like X/Y, but I think I'm just being selfish here. My excitement was for the pokemon and to get right into shiny breeding and rekt some scrubs with the new pokemon, I'll just accept that ain't happening and enjoy what I can only experience once (the story). I'm just amazed that I feel like i'm not even half way done with the story when x/y I beat in at least 18 hours tops.

My team is almost complete, unforunately rockruff, you know that dog that you see on every street, next to every kid, climbing in your window taking your wife, those are so hard to find... idk if its just me but I can't find a rockruff even in the appropriate routes. I eventually gave up and stuck with just keeping george the ariados in my party. No lycanroc for this story team, but meh I love ariados it just breaked my original self rule of only new mons playthrough.

I know my post sounds negative but I'm really enjoying myself, just for clarity. Every time you see me post is usually due to the battery dying and getting me off.