The First Pokémon Sun and Moon 'Global Mission' Was a Bit of a Flop

I signed up, but yeah it was a bit of a hassle.

The original goal was 10mil before they updated it. They also need to do a better job promoting these events.

I had no idea I had to do that to participate. I never really did anything online in the game during my play through, and I don't know if I plan to since I'll be using Pokemom Showdown for competitive battling.

A shame we didn't reach the goal, but indeed they made it too complicated to participate...
I had to make a new account as the old one was unusable, no matter what I tried, and it helps even less that the support section of the site (the Italian one at least) is still based on the Pokemon dreamworld of black and white which closed ages ago >.>;

A backwards, convoluted online registration process on a Nintendo platform!?!? IMPOSSIBRU

Game Sync has always been weird and a total pain. Dream World was probably the coolest use of it but, again, it was weird and a total pain to use. I think if they made it more integrated and less dependent on external browser usage, they might have something here. The "mission" idea IS super cool, in theory.

So that's what I had to do? No wonder I never bothered.

Then again, virtually everything about the connectivity features of Sun and Moon were confusingly backwards compared to the simplicity of XY. For everything right Sun and Moon did for the series, it also did something horribly idiotic.

I sold my copy just days after getting it. The only Main series Pokémon game worse than it was Diamond and Pearl. Thoroughly disappointed.

Despite having completed a living Alolan Pokedex and much more, I did not link my game. Wasn't aware it was required.

Now that I do know, I'll continue doing absolutely nothing. Not a huge fan of the Festival Plaza.

Lol! Oh my god that a lot of steps.

I literally had no clue this was even a thing, and I ravenously consume Nintendo news. They really need to have the Rotom Pokedex mention this in-game to players to encourage them to sign up as a reminder. I don't recall it being mentioned or tutorialized in any meaningful way in-game, but clearly they're not communicating this very well. The need for a process that extends beyond like 3 steps is even more puzzling.

It was an overly complex sign up to something I needed to read about in a game guide... Hardly initiative or easy to find.

I already explained my situation in an earlier article with the login issues (I kept getting a message saying I need to contact support) and how their support said that they can't answer my question if it's not about login issues so I'll just say that Pokémon's official websites and their support are garbage.

I kind of figured this was the reason, it's like hardcore IV/EV training. Unless it was shoved in player's' face or made semi-mandatory, they would ignore it.

At least this was a good way to gauge the active community that have sync.

I'd already sorted the registration before the event, so it wasn't much effort for me once the event started... but I know a lot of people who just couldn't be bothered... the reward just didn't interest them enough as hardly anyone seems to be using the festival plaza for anything more than trading and/or battling at the moment.
If it was just meant to encourage people to register (which would make sense), then they should really have gone for a better reward and set a lower target.

Offer a Volcanion, we'll hit the goal.

Ha ha! That's funny

I have only just finished the first trial... I've gone back to finish DQ7 before I get any further on Pokemon. I've only captured about 30 Pokemon, so I wouldn't have helped much anyway.

I'm sure 100 million would have been caught if everybody's copies were counted without the Game Sync nonsense. Half the people who buy the games are kids (who probably have no idea Festival Plaza exists, much less global missions).

I would have gotten 250+ but I already captured all of the Pokémon I needed by the time this started…

If GameSync wasn't involved, I'm sure this goal would have been reached.

I've been capturing a lot of 'mons since I want to complete the dex, but I didn't bother with the GameSync registration hassle.

@Moon Well, you would as 30 Pokémon sure beats the average.

But it also came as a surprise to me that the remade PokémonGL is in fact just the same website optimized for Sun&Moon and even less accessible in-game. I mean, you HAVE to enter Festival Plaza and access a specific PC there to set it up, and then a Game Sync won't happen if you don't enter Festival Plaza again.

The Gen6 Game Sync wasn't really more accessible, but at least it was in a place where players would expect it, which was accessible anywhere from within the game through the lower screen.

Yup, Game Sync is a pain in the butt... as is their password retrieval system. I'm actually lucky I found my account after all this time! I definitely caught my share.

I'm going to go waste my FC on some hard Pinup Juice & some loose Gardevoirs.

Oh, and another problem may be the game's calling system. I haven't got too much trouble with it as I'm a dedicated Pokédex completionist. But the average player will likely be annoyed and run away after a weakened Pokémon calls for help successfully.

@Slaz The S.O.S Battles annoyed me at first... then I realised how it worked & I'm loving it now. Just hope more casual players take the time to work out all of it's advantages!

It's a mess. Good idea, poor implementation.

I had made a trainer account and signed up for all that online stuff for an earlier pokemon game, but couldn't remember my password or my ID. You can't retrieve your ID unless you sign in and you can't change your password unless you know your ID. Everytime I went online in Pokemon it said game sync failed, but I could still participate in the global mission and online missions. I only caught 28 pokemon for the mission.

I didn't realize I needed to Sync my ID for my numbers to count. I caught over 170 Pokemon and got 100 FC for it. Missed out on an extra 900 FC... Guess I'll have to take some time to register next time.

They REALLY dropped the ball with the online functionality here... Gen 6 handled it a lot better.

@-DG To be fair, the main game is using up so much of the 3DS' power that it can't run the online functions the same way. You still had to Game Sync in Gen 6 though.

@Late I agree it's garbage I couldn't even change my password as the password changing part of the site was always down, like wtf

Seeing as this is the first time I've ever heard of this "Global Mission," they clearly need to do a better job in marketing this stuff.

Festival Plaza is garbage. Bring back a PSS equivalent for Stars.

I found it full of grief as I'd forgotten my password and username from when you could have your own island on a PC (can't even remember which game that linked to)
Resetting my password and getting my username was a pain.
Couldn't seem to set up a new one on the same email.

Had no idea about it lol. Probably because I was away when my game got delivered so I missed the initial hype.

I successfully registered, I used Snorlax's Hold Back on every random encounter I could, and I caught several hundred for the challenge. My boxes are filled with Lilipups and Caterpies... You can't blame me for jack squat.

There was an event?

The mission seemed pretty mindless... I didn't bother with it.

If I had not heard about it here and I would not have heard about it all.

@Slaz Complain time: gen 5 PGL was the best iteration of it imo. You had those tiny secred bases-like homes with nice decorations and dolls and people were visiting you and keep watering your berries. You could catch some HA pokemon there and even Arceuses. The minigames were actual games that time.
Unlike gen 6 where they removed the houses, added weak FB wannabe dashboard and the minigames were just RNG you could leave in idle and still win top notch prize at lowest score. Of course they had to include in-game achievements on the service as well - who does that? Keep them in game, otherwise they will be lost in few years. Or make one common account to show off those medals. But hey, at least we could upload our photos in gen 6 (like anyone cared, yeah)...
But now? It's a barebones website that works as slow as in 2011. And in gen 7 the Game Sync is mandatory each time you connect online. That's enough hassle for me.

Global what now....?

"generally looks on track to be another monster hit for The Pokémon Company"

I see what you did there.

Anyways, I have to repeat a lot of other people here. I personally did sign up for and take part in the event but I only even found out it was a thing that existed from a friend of mine posting about it on Facebook, otherwise I never would have even heard of it. The game doesn't do a great job explaining it. And then once I did find out, the sign up process was needlessly annoying.

Yea it was way too much trouble. Plus I didn't feel like giving them my personal info. Who comes up with this stuff?

Yeah, I just registered for the Global Link a couple days ago, and it was really a hassle. It was obvious that this would fail.

Speaking of online in Sun and Moon, why did Game Freak take away the PSS?! That was an amazing addition to Pokemon and streamlined online so much. Now it shares space with a Join Avenue successor, when they easily could have been separate. That, in my opinion, is one of the biggest flaws of Sun and Moon.

I hate pokemon sun and moon's new mode of presenting their online features with a passion. First, no one gives a biscuit about the carnival, and it's just and extra step you have to climb every time you want to check the GTS or any of the other online features.
Secondly, why'd they change the system in the first place? In XY, they had a great idea going where you could still play the game flawlessly while still connected to the internet and people could casually ask you to trade or battle if you happened not to be doing anything. Now, if you want to have a link trade, people have to catch you in that slim moment in you're in the carnival to catch your attention.
Third, and this is a minor one, there are so many notifications you need to check before the game connects you to, say the GTS. The loading takes a long time to connect in the first place. I don;t want to have to mash just so I can get through the text. I want to not think about just connecting through the internet. DO THAT FOR ME, GAME!

@SebTheGuy No profanity, thanks.

It feels like I'm playing a 2006 game when it comes to integration with Online services such as Pokémon Global Link. They really need to catch up and make it easier and simpler to use.

I'm on the opposite side of the spectrum here. I honestly had no issue with signing up for Game Link, but it took until the announcement of the event to even realize Game Link even existed. The Festival Plaza is honestly a massive downgrade from Gen 6's PSS. That thing was PERFECT.

In comparison, wanna guess how long it took me to discover that Wonder Trade even existed? Or finally figure out how to connect with a 3DS friend for easier trading and battling? I got the game on launch, and I just did my first trade yesterday. Plaza is WAY too convoluted and they need to bring PSS back if Stars is a legitimate thing.

You can blame the decision to tie all online activity to Festival Plaza for that. It's horribly convoluted and a definite step back from 6th gen's PSS. Game Freak really knows how to fix things that aren't broken.

The PSS in GenVI was perfect whereas Festival Plaza feels like we've gone back to GenV.
None of the reviewers picked up on this which is surprising.

Oh bugger. I did my best fellas!

I think I caught about 50 Pokémon for the challenge. I know it wasn't a lot, but I also started late.

They should have just integrated the PSS and DexNav into the rotom pokedex, it would be a lot better than the festival plaza.
I have never known why game freak will remove features that were major improvements, the PSS was good, so was the weather system in Black and White. They would have been cool things to keep.
Game Sync has been a mess for a while so I'm used to that one hehe...

It took me forever to figure out how to trade or battle with friends. The festival plaza was a mistake, just rehash the PSS

@DanteSolablood That's what I figured, I'm just upset they had to cut so many great fearures to get this game to run. I love the game, but I feel like maybe they should have come out with a Z version or X/Y 2 this year instead of pushing the 3DS to it's limits to the point where they had to cut so much.

It was overly complex to sign up, and Festival Plaza made me yearn for the simplicity of menus in X and Y when it came to Wonder Trading and trading between friends, locally and online.

I couldn't even join because right now I am still without a valid synchro-ID. I played normally on my game card, generated the code then added it to my preexistent account on the PGL the day after only to discover two days later that they unregistered my game because my ID wasn't "compatible with my console". After a week of investigation by the Nintendo customer service I was sent to ask to the Pkmn.fr customer service who is still stuck in early Gen days, and who after 2weeks has never answered.
Anyway, looks like I didn't miss anything.
About the global multiplayer presentation: it's really not practical, I miss the availability of the modes on the regular map (X/Alpha).
Not even talking about the one-shot feature that was the Dex-Nav (the only reason why I bought Alpha despite disliking the original 3rd gen pair)

@BakaKnight Oh, it's the same for other countries?

I did wonder if they set the bar too high/ended it too soon. Definitely a too finicky process for signing up that most people wouldn't bother with, except for us Pokemaniacs. X-D

@Fandabidozi I guess that goes to show how meh festival plaza is, that reviewers never got around to mentioning it, i wonder how many (or rather, how few) players went there more than once...

@Rei I ask right back at you, I thought it was only the italian Pokemon site to have a not-updated support section, now I gotta guess it's a European thing if not a global one, I sincerely can't believe it...

@KTT Sadly, I haven't ever registered for the Gen5 global link as my old DS back then didn't support my home Wifi router anymore. But I remember the game referred to it as the Dreamworld. I also liked how the medals were indeed obtained in the actual game, and loved the surprise when that white-coat dude showed up inside a Pokémon Center who gave them to you.

I may just keep using the Global Link for some online competitions and that's about it.

I participated. Caught 130 pokemon within the time allowed. I tried. (smile face)

@SebTheGuy The game is poorly programmed, unfortunately, and would lag with the old Online System. They had to move it to a separate menu (Festival Plaza), otherwise 3DS would cried.

@Slaz Aww, that's sad to hear :/ DS had horrible connectivity settings...

Yes, it was called Dream World. And if you didn't experience it, here's a short summary:
You put a pokemon asleep in the game and you could see it on PGL. If I remember correctly, depending of the Type of the pokemon you sent there, you could encounter/befriend different monsters. Later you caught them in-game (100% capture chance with any ball). Some areas you could visit were also event only.
The little houses (few to choose, upgrade-able, and some were special), decorations and dolls (including event dolls like Mew, BWKyurem!) were really fun. And there was a social aspect in the whole thing (visiting the houses, trading items, watering berries or just showing off your doll collection), and sense of progress as you could unlock new things here and there. More minigames were keep being added (at higher pace than in gen 6 and all were playable).
It worked really slow and had that cheap Flash quality, but it was okay at that time, if you ask me.

Sadly, every medal you got in gen 6 was lost now. And you cannot get all the medals in 5 gen anymore as well... And I think you need them if you want to upgrade your Trainer Card?
Well, getting rid of the medals is a bummer for me, because with a little work the medal system could work similar to trophies or Steam achievements.
I mean, obviously they wouldn't be THAT popular, but that's a nice thing to have regardless.

@TruenoGT
The interface managed to actually get worse.
Now you have to enter the plaza for any, and all, communications, and doesn't give you an option to connect with friends. You have to wait for them to show up in said plaza.
Combined with removing four battle types and the national dex, this is the first pokemon game I refunded within 48 hours.

@GoshDangTravino
Theres a lot of features sun/moon needs to bring back,but most insulting is the lack of a national pokedex.

@BakaKnight Yes, it is. Still no answer to my sync code not going well with my game and console so I simply restarted. If I had done that earlier, I wouldn't be so much behind anyone online.
(random online challenge: had to face a bunch of weird ET-like/outlandish pkmn with my 5 level 24 raised to 50 thanks to the system. Lost aftet I KO'd three of the guy's "things" XD)

@KTT I see, it's a memory/power problem! Now that I know that, I find the embelishment even more useless.

Question: is there no way to properly manage effort points through the game now? Do I need to unlock a bunch of things and wait for the after-story?

@Rei Wait what? Was you replying to me? What memory problem?

EV can be adjusted with some facilities at Festival Plaza (each facility is given to you by random), you can also remove your EVs with those facilities and, like usual, use berries. Poke Pelago supposely can EV train your pokemon but... I used it to hatch eggs and hoard berries and evo stones only :U
Early in the game you get an opportunity to grind for a EV ehancing item (bands, lenses...).

@KTT Yes, sorry, I was reacting to "The game is poorly made and would lag with the old Online System. They had to move it to a separate menu (Festival Plaza), otherwise 3DS would cried." ^^"

Thank you, I noticed the fact you can work to get training items at the Battle Royale Stadium (what a uninteresting mode by the way) rather soon in the game.
Random possibilities of EV adjustement is what irks me. And I don't even know how to reproduce berry trees (can only pick the berries on the ground and that's it).
I didn't visit the Pelago yet, only a little house who host Pokémon only for reproduction purposes.

Ah yes! I have strong belive that what we got is a badly made port of a Switch game (the rumoured Stars), a future Switch game that is downgraded because you have to make some cuts if you want a game to run on different platforms.
6th gen has shown us bad optimization already (well! The first gen isn't a gem either with its messy code!) but 7th's battle lags and FPS drops, no 3D, removed features, no camera movement etc etc just screams "we didn't optimize it!". Prettier or not, I'm not impressed with SuMo, especially when comparing to games like Monster Hunter, which even o3DS can handle.

Yes, that's what I talked about, but I didn't want to spoil it to you (unsure what you have seen so far in game). Just lose 16 fights and done (unless you have lv 50 'mons already, then try to win!).

On the 3rd island, there is a path with bird pokemon attacking you from the trees (also, the stupiest, besides Stoutlant guy, reason to block you by a NPC). There, randomly & once per day, berries will spawn. Gather them, each day, until you have all 6 (SR berries may work tho!). In the meantime plant them at Pelago. Pelago may look like a cheap mobile app test (there's no IAP yet, hehe), but it is actually useful if you develop it fully. Hope that helps!

@KTT Thanks for the detailed explaination, seems like I really missed something back then! I do remember collecting a lot of medals in Gen5, but some were indeed related to online stuff that obviously doesn't work anymore after Nintendo WiFi's closure. Maybe that fanmade Nintendo WiFi clone is still up for gen5? idk, but we can safely say the connectivity features in gen5 were the best they made even without considering the Global Link. They even had these emoticons to react to trade offerings, among other features lost since Gen6.

Having to do stuff outside the game to have it count was a big failure, then again it's Nintendo, the masters of convulated ways.

People say they've never heard of this, and I call bull crap because whem you get a game especially a POKEMON game you explore the heck out of it! When the festival plaza came up, I EXPLORED the plaza. You people complain about lack of content, but apparently unless your hand is held, you'll never see it. Registration wan't that difficult either. Now tech glitchrs happen but, that's not really Pokémon's fault, it just happens. Everyone here was able to register their Nintendo Life account, it doesn't take rocket science to register the freaking Pokémon accounts. While I will say promotion was definitely sub-par, I believed they could've totally done like a Social Media round-up with a info-graphic on how to setup. A blurb about community and Pokémon, then BAM. NO EXCUSES THEN.

@BakaKnight So, maybe it is because it's the end of the year but the french support finally answered to my ticket (on the Pkmn website's customer service) yesterday. Of course, they only asked if my problem was still going on, to wich I said no (only because I resorted to restart the game from the beginning in order to generate a new synchro-ID).

@Rei Well, it's great to hear they at least read the mails, even the timing is not weird considering Sun and Moon just came out. Guess their support team works afterall, too bad it's likely overwhelemed and too slow for be useful right now because whoever is in charge of the support site is not updating it since 2009 or something >_>;