Pokémon Sun and Moon Review

©The Pokémon Company ©Nintendo Co., Ltd. ©Creatures Inc. ©GAME FREAK inc.

With this year being the 20th anniversary of the franchise, there was no way that Game Freak would pass up on the opportunity to release a brand new Pokémon game. Three years after the release of Pokémon X and Y, the time was ripe regardless.

Pokémon Sun and Moon move the franchise into the tropical waters of Alola (drawing heavy influence from real world Hawaii). You’re thrust into the game in essentially the same way as every other game in the franchise: you just moved to Alola (from Kanto), and are greeted by the region’s professor with some choice words and tutorials. As you progress, you travel from island to island trying to finish all the challenges so that you can challenge the Elite Four. There’s the first big change: the lack of gyms. While I was very resistant to it at first, I found it to be a pretty refreshing change. Functionally it’s still the same thing. You have some kind of puzzle to solve in a set area, then you have to fight some kind of boss. Instead of a gym leader you end up fighting a Totem Pokémon, which is essentially a powered up version of any other Pokémon. Following from that is the next addition: calling for help. Since the Totems fight alone, they actually call for help to summon other Pokémon to assist, turning the fight into a you vs them fight rather than a 1v1. This actually creates an interesting challenge that makes the Totem fights quite fun. Unfortunately, this feature also carries over into normal wild encounters as well. It may not sound bad, but in my experience I kept running into battles where I’d try to capture a Pokémon and it would just keep calling for help over and over again. Since you can’t capture Pokémon unless they are alone on the battlefield, it’s an extremely annoying thing and could definitely have been toned down.

Exploring.

Capturing Pokémon is one of the core themes of the game, and there are a total of 81 new monsters to capture. This is a disappointing low, but at least it’s more than the even lower count of 72 from X and Y. Thankfully, most of the new additions are fun and unique. In fact, this game has some of my favorite designs in the entire franchise. On the flip side, some of these ‘new’ Pokémon are actually different forms of some of the original 151. They have new type combinations and different move sets. For example, Raichu in this game is actually Psychic and Electric, rather than pure Electric. It certainly helps breathe life into some of the old Pokémon, but it still didn’t sit well with me. There’s a huge focus on only improving or re-introducing the original monsters and so all the rest get neglected. I understand this was likely done because of it being a 20th anniversary release, so it is meant to pay homage to the originals, but it’s a wasted opportunity. To help balance that out, the overall set of Pokémon consists of a nice variety of choices from all the previous generations.
 
It isn’t all fun and games though, thanks to the oddest and most frustrating choice I’ve ever seen in the franchise: the lack of a National Pokedex. For those who don’t know, every game since Pokémon Gold and Silver have had a regional Pokedex specific to the region of that particular game, and upon completion of the main story there is a National Pokedex. This unlocks the ability to have data entries for all Pokémon that exist up to the point of that release. This game is missing that. What’s even odder is the inclusion of a feature in the game that allows you to capture Pokémon not in the Alola Dex, without connecting to any outside games or services, yet they can’t be registered in your game’s Pokedex in any way, shape or form. This is an extremely frustrating lack of feature, especially for those of us who want to fill more than just the Alola Dex. This is especially insulting because the Alola Dex doesn’t even contain HALF of all the Pokémon (currently topping out at a total of 301, out of over 800).

My own personal choice, Litten.

All of this is ultimately alright, because it doesn’t prevent any of the other Pokémon from being in the game. Using the Pokémon Bank app (which will be patched sometime in January), you can transfer any Pokémon you choose to store in that system from the 3DS family games into Sun and Moon. The process of capturing Pokémon hasn’t changed though. You get into battle, and attempt to weaken it so that you can throw Pokeballs at it until it’s yours. Sun and Moon both have their own set of exclusive Pokémon, though it isn’t a lot (thankfully). The bigger version difference is that if you play Moon, then the time of day is switched. If you’re playing at 9am real time, then in game it’ll be 9pm. It’s an interesting choice that doesn’t change anything except the time of day (in real time) you try and do certain activities.
 
The other huge aspect of Pokémon is battling. The 1v1 and 2v2 battles are still there, and are just as fun as before. They follow the same turn-based principles as all other games in the franchise, with some new moves, abilities and Pokémon features to mix things up. The problem is that 3v3 and Rotation have been entirely removed from the game. For all the steps forward that this game has taken, it’s really odd that they chose to take these two huge steps back. To make up for this, the new feature of Z-Moves certainly adds an interesting dynamic. Within battle, if you let your Pokémon hold a Z-stone then you can perform a super-powered move (once per battle). While usually this involves some kind of powered-up version of a normal move, some moves actually add other benefits. For example, using Splash (normally a useless attack) as Z-Splash does its normal ‘nothing’, but it also raises your attack by 3 stages. This adds a new way to approach many attacks, creating new forms of strategy.

Professor Kukui hates wearing a shirt.

It may sound like I mostly have nothing but complaints about this new generation of Pokémon, but this isn’t the case. One of the features I’ve always despised, has finally been removed from the game: the HM moves. In all other games in the franchise, you need to teach your Pokémon a special move in order to solve out-of-battle puzzles. The problem is that each Pokémon is limited to knowing 4 moves at a time, and these HM moves can’t be replaced easily. Sun and Moon finally gets rid of this entirely, so that we don’t need to waste move slots or carry around Pokémon who are there simply for HM moves. Instead, we get the new Ride feature: as you progress through the game, you are given a Pokémon to ‘rent for free’ that you can summon outside of battle to functionally do what HMs did. For example, you are given a Tauros who can charge and break through rocks, or a Charizard that allows you to fly from city to city. This is a very welcome change, and words cannot describe how happy I am that they did this at long last.
 
Speaking of progress, the story is still painfully barren in this game. You spend most of the game merely trying to complete all the island challenges. There are many hints and lore points dropped explaining the bigger picture, but your character almost never participates in any of this. It makes for a very boring game from a narrative perspective, especially for an RPG (which are usually known for having large and intricate stories). Just like the previous generation of games, the bulk of the story is condensed into a 1-2 hour sequence that takes place near the end of the game. The most frustrating part of this is that the story that IS presented, is very exciting and fun. It’s presented well and is very interesting, but as mentioned it’s a very short sequence in an otherwise narrative-free game. To counter this a bit, this game introduces fun and simple ‘quests’ that you can complete for money. Most of the time it requires capturing a specific Pokémon, but it’s kind of nice to have formal side-quests rather than an extremely linear and focused adventure.

Making the hardest choice: your starter.

As with any Pokémon game, there are a handful of things you can do upon completion of the game (i.e. after defeating the Elite Four). There’s a main quest line you can do that involves a character we’ve seen in other games, and it’s pretty fun, even if it is a little short. After the amount of content that Black and White gave us, it’s immensely disappointing how sparse the games after that have been in comparison. That’s not to say that the amount is terrible, it’s just had a precedent set with a previous game and Game Freak has refused to follow that precedent since. Overall though, this is still better than X and Y, which makes it an improvement.
 
There are a few other features that get unlocked as you play, which give a new perspective on some classic mechanics. The first is the Festival Plaza. This is a new game mode where you can go into a customizable plaza and talk to players you pass by in real life or online. This is where most of the online multiplayer functions are, such as battling and trading. You can also partake in short mini-games where you walk around solving puzzles via competition (like trying to break the most rocks while riding Tauros, or showing off an understanding of type-matchups via quizzes). As you further use this function, you unlock buildings which you can put in your plaza that do different things. This all sounds great, but my issue lies with the execution. X and Y offered the genius Player Search System, now done in Festival Plaza. You’re forces you to go to a new area thus pausing the main game completely being rather inconvenient. To top it off, doing things with friends is extremely roundabout and frustrating as well, since you have to find them in your plaza then talk to them. From there you need to add them to your VIP list so that you have easy access to them. When I first tried this my friend didn’t appear in my plaza for almost an hour. Still, all the functionality is there and it mostly works, even if it can be inconvenient.

Charjabug, one of the brand-new creatures.

The next feature is called Pokémon Pelago. Here, you can develop a number of mini-islands to serve special purposes. These purposes involve things such as picking up random wild Pokémon rather than capturing them traditionally or sending your Pokémon on a treasure hunt. This whole mode feels and works like a mobile game. What that means is that everything is time-locked. It takes a certain amount of time to do anything, and you need to wait for the timers to reset in order to do your activities again. This encourages you to come back and keep playing the game long-term. On the one hand, it works. On the other hand, it’s disconcerting that companies are trying to implement these really limiting forms of lockouts outside of mobile apps.
 
The QR Scanner is another feature that locks itself under a once-per-day use, but with what it lets you do it is a little more acceptable. Using the QR Scanner, you can scan QR Codes using the 3DS cameras in order to unlock partial information in your Pokedex. You can scan up to 10 codes per day. Once you’ve scanned 10, you unlock the ability to do an ‘Island Scan’. This summons a random Pokémon that isn’t in the Alola Dex at any random point on the island you are currently on (make sure you only use it on an island where you have full access to all areas). This scan can only do once per day as well. It’s cool though, because I’ve seen creatures such as Totodile, Duosion and Honedge popup. It’s a neat way to allow players to get a lot of the non-Alolan Pokémon without using other games in the franchise. 

Shopping for clothes.

The most missed opportunity in game modes comes in the form of Poke Finder. At designated locations you can pull out an in-game camera and take pictures of Pokémon doing things, similar to the beloved Pokémon Snap. The problem is that the designated areas are very limited and there’s only one Pokémon at each location.
 
The last big feature in the game is Pokémon Refresh, which replaces X and Y’s Pokémon Amie. You can pet and feed your Pokémon in this mode. It’s cute, but serves a purpose outside of the mode too. If you bring up your creature’s satisfaction you gain access to benefits in battle. The best part of all this is that you can use this mode to cure your Pokémon of status ailments. This means that you don’t need to carry a ton of items (unless you need them in battle), since you can cure them as soon as the battle is over. On a side note, customizable clothing makes a come-back from X and Y.

An epic battle about to commence.

All my other complaints aside, the most glaring issue is in the technical quality. I played the entire game on a New 3DS XL, and I still had constant slow-down during battles (there’s no 3D feature to use as an excuse). Another thing I noticed, which is most glaringly obvious in text boxes, is the variable resolution. Sometimes things would be a little blurry, as if the models or images weren’t compressed properly. I’m not sure if it’s because the games push the system to the limit, but it’s not a good sign. This is especially disappointing because the game looks and feels absolutely gorgeous. Especially exciting is the amazing musical score, which is arguably one of the best in the franchise.

Pikachu using a Z-Move.

As is almost always the case with any Pokémon title, it feels like they take a step forward and a take step back at the same time, preventing the series from moving forward properly. Pokémon Sun and Moon are most definitely fantastic games and some of the best in the franchise, but the fact remains that there are some really odd decisions involving features that prevent these titles from being phenomenal. Still, Pokémon Sun and Moon are really fun entries in the series. Long-time as well as curious new fans will find plenty to enjoy. People who haven’t really enjoyed the games before, though, will find very little to enjoy in this overall stagnant series. Clocking in at about 50 hours for me to complete all of the story (main and extra) as well as fill about ⅔ of my Pokedex, it’s a reasonably lengthy title. Still...one step forward, one step backward. Must be the motto of Game Freak.
 
-Teepu

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Graphics: AMAZING
Gameplay: GOOD
Sound: PERFECT
Value: AMAZING
 
OVERALL: AMAZING

©The Pokémon Company ©Nintendo Co., Ltd. ©Creatures Inc. ©GAME FREAK inc.

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