Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon: Spoilers ahoy ☀

See, if it were a Discord group, I'd be all over it. But y'all had to use the demonspawn that is Skype instead.

ilikeoctopus wrote:

"virginate"?

Turns normal type moves into the Virgin type, alongside a 30% boost in power. Very anti-meta. Odd distribution...

more like "turns target pokemon into a---" you know what, let's just not get into that here.

Also, you sunbros have no concept of style.

MOONINITES 4 LYFE

I'm for Moon. The Time gimmik is annoying as shit and I do like SOME of Suns exclusives but I REALLY like some of Moons exclusives, so, yeah

I went for moon... about half an hour ago. Bought both, but the other copy is for a friend. Didn't really care one way or another about the exclusives, especially since I haven't seen the whole dex, but since a lot of people prefer Sun, Moon seemed like the better default option.

Then I found out that [--E-O--S-], Moon exclusive, is likely to be banned from OU fairly shortly, so I figured there's no point in catching one, and swapped to Sun.

But then afterwards I found that people are eyeing up [-A-TA--], Sun exclusive, as being potentially problematic in the near future too. So I went back to Moon. Even though I know next to nothing about any of these Pokemon. OH WELL!

What really sucks is that my 3DS is still in the UK for repairs. They haven't even started repairing it yet, they've been "waiting for parts" since Friday :'(

That first name you've censored made my mind immediately jump to EOS, the final boss of the Claptastic Voyage DLC for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.

And since I don't think I've formally chimed in with my version yet, I went with Moon. Really the only notable exclusive was Lunala, since I'm just not a fan of Solgaleo; the fact that I get Alolan Sandshrew/Sandslash over Alolan Vulpix/Ninetales is just icing on the cake.

The name censors confuse me, I do not have the pacience to figure out who you're talking about

sun is great i finished it and got all the ultra beasts and its excellent in general :V

My friends on a group chat have just been talking spoilers so I pretty much have that on mute now.

And I think everyone is further ahead than I am because I've been running around like a chicken with its head off; also I have Sun (but I feel like I've mentioned that before somewhere).

ilikeoctopus wrote:My friends on a group chat have just been talking spoilers so I pretty much have that on mute now.

And I think everyone is further ahead than I am because I've been running around like a chicken with its head off; also I have Sun (but I feel like I've mentioned that before somewhere).

You're probably not behind me. I borrowed my friend's older 3DS to play with, forgot the off button was awkwardly placed on those models and never saved after an hour and a slipped finger... I've just beaten Ilima. I lost to him first time too tho to be fair I'm playing left handed, team is *only* Magnemite and Rowlet and I have exp share turned off.

Oof - beat the League yesterday! My final team, for those interested (contains a Pokémon that was not revealed pre-release, though it's on the site now). I also had Ursul the Event Snorlax early on, and Logan the Midday Lycanroc helped me through the first two thirds of the game as well.

Overall? fucking AMAZING game. I've got a few issues (The Festival Plaza is very inconvenient compared to the PSS. Could've been solved by making Quick Link serve or online stuff as well, streamlining the process. The SOS mechanic is fun and a good way to add challenge, but maybe a bit too prevalent in a way that makes catching Pokémon very annoying - either reducing the chance of the 'mon calling for help or making you able to throw Pokéballs during double battles would solve it. And finally, story-wise, the game is incredible... which clashes with the player character being as expressive as a brick in certain scenes. Minor complaint, but still very noticeable.)

Anyways yeah, despite that, I'd ABSOLUTELY recommend the game to everyone - though it's pretty plot-heavy, so some will (and have) certainly be annoyed with that aspect. Such a blast, though, god.

It sounds like I'm right about the same place as you, D. And I think it's fantastic that the game is so plot-heavy, especially after XY's shallow puddle. I am deeply annoyed that I was forced to go to the Trainer's School, though.

I'm deeply annoyed that I had to do the whole thing up to that point twice > the cutscenes and tutorials aren't skippable! Which is fine for an initial play through. It SUCKS for replays.

Current team: Dartrix, Magnemite
[1] island trial completed
Status: helping Lillie with her dumb adorable smog ball frend

Current team: Dartrix, Magnemite, Wishiwashi
[3] Island trials completed
Status: Lamenting the fact that 4 island trials later and I STILL accidentally button mash and targer the bloody ally pokemon instead of the totem Pokemon as initially intended, curse you alomomola/castform!!

Alola, amigos!

So on the one hand,

plot = 10/10 better than BW, funnier too
difficulty = actually not terrible (I've lost...6 times... urgh that's actually a lifetime record since probably Silver)
pokemon designs = neat as heck (tho I'd say this for most gens I think, I appreciate that the separation of UBs from regular mons let them both keep things simple and make things weird at the same time)
Removal of HMs: Absolutely awesome, they really weren't missed at all (though I could have used the Waterfall and Surf TMs ingame)

on the other hand...
holy fuck game freak I hate you and everything  you stand for! They've more or less eliminated all of the benefits that XY and then ORAS introduced to the series. SOS battles are *not* that good for EV training, and the loss of Super Training makes precision EVs even more difficult. Hyper Training would be nice IF bottlecaps weren't awkward to get and there was any decent method of training postgame (besides the daily Morimoto battle and a Restaraunt, but at least XY's restaraunts were worthwhile.) And so much of the stuff needed to get into all the juicy inner workings (battle items, breeding items) is locked behind the battle tree/dome's BP cost, or simply not available (macho brace, multiple lucky eggs) which wouldn't be too bad only they upped the difficulty on them, so it's a bit of a catch 22 for people starting. Total grindfest. Not to mention that loss of the dexnav *really* stings, as does the PSS. Having played a game with, and then a game without them... They should both be made series staples. Jesus Christ. I know every new game we lament the stuff that Game Freak takes out, but this gen takes the cake, and I really liked the cake :<

PSS for DPPT remake c'mooooon!!!

Wait, they got rid of the Macho Brace? That makes absolutely no sense. They've had it since Ruby and Sapphire. Also, the new interface for switching around your party members feels so clunky; I'm really not sure why they felt the need to change it. But yeah, the story feels much better than XY's; I've only just reached the second island, so I can't quite judge how it stacks up compared to BW.

Speaking as someone who hates EV training and has done it for my Silvally, I think it's easier than XY, actually!

The Macho Brace has been removed afaik, yes... But on the other hand, the Power items have been upped to granting you 8 extra points in the stat. Chained Pokémon through SOS also give you double points, so all you need to really do is equip the item, get your pokérus, find the right Pokémon and kill seven of its chained allies to max out a stat - which, with adrenaline orbs, is pretty easy.

Granted, precision training sounds like it probably is a pain, yeah... but just straight-up maxing out stats is easy as shit in this game.

On the other hand, FP is a very poor replacement for the PSS - it's... not impossible to work with, but way less convenient. Quick Link could have SERIOUSLY been used for this in a smart way, really.

But yeah, the lack of training methods is REALLY bad - I knew we wouldn't get any more Blissey Bases or anything, but... Come on.

Especially because, spoiler alert -

league stuff:

Granted, there ARE ways to help - if you get proficient at the Festival Plaza, you can get level up drinks that can get you to level 90~98. Though you'll have to do those last few ones yourself (or get some Rare Candies, either or), it's... better than nothing.

The story, on the other hand, is fantastic as I've said - the characters, in particular, are by far the best of the series. BW's story was great because it had a couple of great characters (N in particular, with Ghetsis, Cheren and Bianca being nice too), a great general premise and slight characters in the gym leaders... But MAN. I don't know if the plot by itself is as good as BW, but the characters definitely carry it further.

I actually CARE about these people, I got to meet and talk with the Trial Captains and you can tell what they and the Kahunas are like - almost no one felt like a one-off throwaway that is there 'just for X'. They even used this to great effect by

endgame stuff:

...But yeah. I really loved this game's story, man. Now to hope it doesn't take the path of the PSS...

Now that we actually have the games we should, like, do stuff.

Or we could if we knew what that stuff was and also if I had a DS that had my friend code details in it. It's still in the UK awaiting repairs


Random thoughts;

- Alolan Ninetales is really cool for offense and for hail support, gonna breed one to team up with my Mega Gyarados, Aurora Veil is so awesome
- Golisopod looks crazy cool, probably won't be all that great tho, but still, fucking wow
- Bewear is absurdly bulky physically where it needs to be, and stufful's cry absolves the line of any and all design sins
- Aegislash is still horribly powerful in any meta it exists in
- Porygon Z is fittingly one of the best users of Z moves; Z conversion, get on that, totes breeding that too
- Z Waterium Manaphy probably deserves a ban in a year or so once the meta settles, it's too damn flexible
- I wanna use something with a gimmicky Z-Hypnosis set but don't know what yet :0
- Rock/Poison typing is weird and cool and weird
- Imma SR a 10% Zygarde; Zydoge has 100 atk, 115 speed, can use Choice Band and spam STAB Outrages/Thousand Arrows (hits flying types) and has Extremespeed too
- Imma also SR a Tapu Bulu because grassy terrain is nuts and I like grass types
- Synchroniser overworld nerf sucks voltorbs >
- destiny knot is pointlessly difficult/luckbased to obtain (either pickup, or 48bp)
- berries that heal but can cause confusion have been buffed, might see use on Wishiwashi, I like Wishiwashi so yay
- I wish bulbapedia would update with route appearance statistics
- 2.5 hours later and I'm still Dhelmiseless

You don't need to SR for 10/50% Aura Break Zygardes! You can just disassemble them and get a new one :p

Also I am SO glad Mimikyu seems to be Decent and Minior is apparently Sweet As Shit as far as I've heard. give some love to the single-stagers this gen

I did that for a while, but SRing and reassembling is less prone to accidentally pressing the wrong menu selection and wasting time than assembling then disassembling.

There are a LOT of single stagers! And they're all vaguely interesting. Even Komala has a decent stat spread, it's definitely not Farfetch'd tier.

More thoughts:

- omg SOS battled an Oranguru while I was trying to catch one... Only got to throw three balls, but got to knock out 15 Trumbeaks in the process
- 5 pickup meowth later: imma farm shit! But they're all low leveled and aren't getting anything good. I miss my two level 90 diggersby and I need a destiny knot to breed things...
- fishing is pretty terrible, at least you can sr spots if you need to, miserably gameplay immersion though
- there are no chairs for sitting on lots of beds, however!

Well, you can sit on any throne. ...Not many of those in the game, tho.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's going to be a meme about the player characters sleeping around in everyone's beds, if there isn't already.

We're a serial bed sniffer.

seriously WHY DO WE SMELL LIKE EVERY BED WE SLEEP ON

In Guzma's house you do it right in front of his elderly mother. She literally faces the pillow. Odd family.

....Hey.

Yknow. You get BP from losing in Battle Royals, don't you?

....I'm pretty sure you can just take three mons with explosion, head in there and suicide to grind Battle Points. Still takes a while, but... it's doable, and not at all difficult.

....interesting.

Dee I would love to teambuild with you at some point :V There's a lot of interesting things going on this gen with the new guys, the A-Persian/Golisopod combo is the one that I've been having the most fun with.

That said, OU and Pokebank OU are going to be horrible until Smogon gets its shit together and chucks UB-02 Beauty into ubers where it belongs. That thing is frightening.

some competitive discussion but it's about one of the ultra beasts: