Topic: Pokémon Sun & Moon - Discussion & Speculation

@Araquanid Awwww lame and thanks for the info! Was driving me crazy xD

Oh, I know! I named mine "Twitter" because I thought I wouldn't keep it, but I didn't know that Twitter wouldn't even make it past level seven because it would constantly faint before it could recieve experience.

A lot of new Pokémon have questionable Stats. Be it offensive, defensive, SPEED is a big one, a lot of the new ones die far too fast. At least that's what I've found.

Also upon reviewing my friends, one who is doing what I did and turning EXP Share off, and another who didn't, this game starts off fairly fun, but by the end, it gets to punish you for not using the EXP Share. Worse is, the game springs the level spike on you. At no point did I feel underlevelled until very suddenly everything was levels higher. Also noted that Totem Battles should be 2v2, as some are flat out broken to deal with, with turn stalling a very common thing my friends have had to do, as have I.

I cannot stress, that if Pokémon Stars is real, they need to test the game, and account for people not using EXP share, because the later half of this game, WILL punish you for that choice. Not fun challenge, punish.

@BLP_Software Well, it's a feature they give you from the beginning that's automatically set to "on"; you should know that things are going to get trickier by turning it off.

And I legitmately don't get the deal with totem battles- plenty of other JRPGs have enemies outnumber the player characters in encounters. You can't steamroll through them, but with a proper strategy you can get through. I only whited out once (against Totem Lurantis); I looked at what I did wrong and adjusted things accordingly, and the next time around it went much smoother.

And really, with certain 'mons Totem battles are quick and painless- Totem Wishiwashi falls no problem if you have a decently-levelled Dartrix, Totem Salazzle pretty much gets one-shot by ground-types, Totem Lurantis hates Torracat and becomes a complete joke with Fletchinder, and so on. Pokemon is never going to be perfectly balanced- but saying that it wasn't playtested feels pretty arrogant.

To be fair, it turns exp share on by default.

Anyway, it does feel like there was some cut content between Ula'ula and Poni Island. Specifically that arc of the story felt way too abrupt and easily resolved.

@CrazedCavalier Totem Pokémon are a joke IF you have certain Pokémon. Its not as bad as Johto, which had limited variety and would curb stomp you for not having certain Pokémon, but it feels pretty odd that this game has those spikes but gives you the option of turning EXP Share off, and having a good quality challenge up to a point where it decides to slap you.

Its not that the game was hard up to that point, its that it felt fine without the EXP Share on, and then very rapidly decides your enjoyment should be cut at Poni Island.

And to go off what @Haru17 said, perhaps something was cut. I don't get the gradual curve of levels to be suddenly thrown into 5 level higher enemies and wild Pokémon after only a short time battling in Aether Paradise. As I said, with or without EXP Share, it felt perfectly fine to be suited to your kind of play, but in that one rather rushed feeling scenario, it goes from 0 to 100, and not using EXP Share puts everything after that at a bit of a wall.

This "Cut content" theory comes into what myself and @Araquanid said, that Aether plot and the Legendary rounded out a little /too/ conveniently. Sudden songs, sudden flutes, sudden shift. That felt rushed through, especially with the slow build up.

Though if you want something positive from me, gotta love Palossand and Araquanid. Rimbombee to that speedy little killing machine. Primarina feels like a disappointment though. Never stays alive long enough to really /do/ anything.

If I can beat totem lurantis with brionne and dewpider, literally only those two (both water type, dewpider didn't even learn bug moves beside infestation), then I don't think its as super op hard to play. (I recently replayed earthbound and got cancer from diamond dog again, if you want to talk unfair and just op no matter what, there's an example of a typical RPG boss).

IMO A good RPG should always have a boss you lose to again and again and then finally either outscale it or grind, go find items, and then finally beat it. I had this with earthbound where I had to take extra time to fight random meaningless monsters in order to survive the next boss (even barely), and in pokemon, this hasn't been the case for me since gen 4 elite four.

The only problem I had was mimikyu, and that wasn't mimikyu itself but the confuse ray haunters literally taking the game out of my control, that's where there's righteous anger in RPGs as you feel bull%$^#ed rather than "I need more hard work to pay off" or "I got outplayed but now I know the strategy".

Regarding Exp. Share, as others said it was an option to have on since the start, and it was to be expected to get harder without it. The issue with that playthrough was it was too easy without it early on, and you got spoiled by how easy it was to snowball everything, and then when a real challenge happened, you finally seen difficulty that caught up due to the Exp. Share being off. I'd argue because of this, the game is too easy. I give the credit for the difficulty spike, I really do, but its too easy in the beginning that even handicapping yourself makes the game seem pretty simple. Afterall, you're more often than not going to only use 1 or two of your pokemon up to the totem, and the rest of the way most likely. So pretty much every battle was 2 v 4 at least, and if your favorites fell due to match up, then you were screwed. Even in my playthrough with Exp. Share off, there was no use for my salazzle or my vikavolt, I could PC them and my playthrough wouldn't have been different, they were only good for giving me something to switch out so I can spam revives on the ones who mattered. Leaving Exp. Share off makes that matter even worse since its literally 2 v 4 with most of your team half leveled.

I'm not directly making this post at @BLP_Software this a general opinion as my reply to several people on both this, and other forums I've seen say "lurantis op Exp. Share was off wat do need walkthrough."

On another note, I wish lillie was just a better character overall... she was too "teenage dream" for me, constantly just sucking on you dry with everything you do (kappa) but then when she gets all fan girly and tries to be a trainer with her Z dance its like... "girl when you getting a ring or pokemon to do anything?"

Even when she left.. I was like "YOU'RE AREADLY LEAVING AND STILL DON'T HAVE A POKEMON..."

I can see it now the moment she steps onto kanto..

They should've let alolan oak do this at some point..

Dammit I just reminded myself of alolan oak.. he's another character that needed more flessed out.

@Araquanid I understand difficulty is subjective, and is it true early game is really easy with EXP on? It seems like a decent challenge to start that gets out of hand for whatever reason. The level scaling was fine, it just seems like a harsh jump that I have to stress, literally jumps. My issue more lies with the game giving the impression the EXP Share off feature lets you have a good, constant challenge, only to very suddenly go against that mantra. It felt off and a bit poorly done.

Lurantis wasn't much bother for me. I know some hated it, and I did initially, with that blasted Trumbeak going for every hit imaginable. Lurantis itself? Get that quick Thunder Wave shutdown let Araquanid and Ribombee do the rest. Did I mention Pollen Puff is great?

Now Totem Mimikyu. Lets all agree that thing can die. If it isn't already being a Ghost...

I'm gonna break that fight down.

1 - Disguise. Free Substitute, so that's your first turn gone. Want to paralyse it early though? Well I got bad news.

2 - Lum Berry. No poison, paralysis, burn, whatever, on that first turn. No damage, no status. It can do whatever and summon an ally. Which leads to point 3.

3 - Haunter. Confuse Ray can lose you turns very easily (Ive had more Confusion issues than ever it feels like), and Sucker Punch breaks Sturdy's, can even knock a good lump off you before Mimiyku steps in and finishes the job.

4 - Mimikyu's type. I was both pleased and immediately terrified about the prospect of a Ghost/Fairy type. And Mimikyu here shows why I feared it. This thing packs Shadow Claw and Play Rough, both STAB moves too. Now Mimikyu, shockingly, will already hit and fast, but it's type combo is what sets it apart.

Dark is the only thing to resist Ghost type attacks. But Mimikyu is a Fairy type, so it hits Dark super effectively. Fire, Poison, and Steel all resist Fairy type attacks, but none of them resist Ghost, all take neutral damage. This means if you're packing a Dual-Type Pokémon, that resists Ghosts, itll still take a hard hit from Fairy, and vice versa. No type combination in all 802 Pokémon, resists Mimikyu.

You're best defense is something that can take one hell of a hard hit, assuming it also takes Sucker Punch and COnfuse Ray well, but you've also got to burn two turns before you remove it's free hit and Status cure. Unless you pack Knock Off, at which point pray you move first.

Regarding Samson Oak, he falls into the issue that Gladion does. SO much more here, never done. In fact Hau drops off the planet for a while too doesn't he? Wow, let's add that to underwhelming Ultra Beasts.

I didn't mind Lillie, but she feels like...what if N didn't have a spine? N didn't like battles either, but he still does it to get what he believes done. Lillie just...talks about it and asks you for help? I don't know what she wants to achieve in Kanto, but she is incredibly dependant until...a very sudden moment.

The more I think about it, the more stuff seems unfinished. :/

Well that's the main campaign done. Gotta say, love the new Pokémon I met on the trip (Araquanid, Ribombee, Primarina, Palossand and Lycanroc) even though Magnezone ended up as my highest levelled member. Each played a role, and Araquanid (Bubbler, bless her), held on so many times with 1HP out of affection.

Gotta say, did NOT expect to battle Tapu Koko as a final battle, but hey ho. Caught it, never gonna use it, even though it's cry is a power drill of awesomeness.

This game has flaws, but it was fun. Better than XY which makes it a win in my books.

Hell, I'm going as far as to say this, ORAS notwithstanding as those are remakes. THIS is what I think Generation 6 (XY) should have been. This feels like a step forward from the story and world building of BW and BW2. In characters, thematics, structure, everything. And for that, 3rd favourite Pokémon games behind Generation 3 (Can never get rid of your first ) and Generation 5 in first place. Pokémon Sun and Moon, are, a lot of the time for me, flawed but fun.

@BLP_Software I was one of the people who hated Lurantis 😛

The thing about Lurantis is that if you don't OHKO it or inflict a status condition on it, you're gonna have a bad time. I tried using Inferno Overdrive on it but that didn't kill it, and then it proceeded to spam Synthesis. The battle went downhill from there.

@BLP_Software You're forgetting Normal immunity to ghost. Pyroar is Normal/Fire, immune to Ghost and resists Fairy due to Fire. Dark/Steel like Bisharp or Dark/Poison like Drapion and Alolan Grimer/Muk if I'm not mistaken also don't take super effective damage from either type.

@Araquanid The thing is, Lillie KNOWS she is weak and useless. Confronting/calling out her mother was the first step, then of course she lets you take care of the legendary because she obviously isn't ready for it. THEN she can carve her own path as a trainer, starting in Kanto since, well, she's kind of already ventured around the islands so it's not much of a journey just retreading recently travelled territory, but Kanto also happens to have several variants of species found in Alola so it's not too unfamiliar either (sequel hook? setup for Generations episode?).

@meleebrawler Pyroar kinda counts. Bisharp takes beutral damage from Fairy as does Muk and Drapion. And of those I know Muk is the available one in Sun and Moon given no pokebank or national dex.

I love the fact Tauros and Miltank are listed as being part of the same evolutionary family.

Also, in unrelated news, Alolan Grimer is adorable.

Kukui was the Masked Royal THE WHOLE TIME!?!? /s

Seriously though, like, get out of my game! Why does the one professor with a leading role have to have such a severe case of creep-face!?

K A N T O N I A N

"Kantonian Meowth." Yeah, lol. You read that right.

As for Lurantis, I also had trouble, only because I let it live. I wanted to see that Solar Blade just once. Then a castform came in with Sunny Day, and it went so down hill, so fast. One turn SB, Synthesis, Castform Stab Weather Ball.
I only won because affection rng and Mac revives.
I'm with @BLP_Software on this one. Lurantis wasn't so hard, I was just dumb.
Mimikyu was way more stressful because it called in a Gengar with Hypnosis. Again won by affection rng.

Kantonian
Johtonian
Hoennian
Sinnohite
Unovian
Kalosian (Kalan?)
Alolan

It's fun to have your perspective flipped like that.