Pokemon Sun/Moon PLUS ULTRA (Alola Region Games)

[azoo]

I just hope five things from this game:

1 ) A bigger step up in visuals and presentation. Sure, XY & ORAS was a big step up from the previous, but imo it was still a little too safe. Gen 6's advancements in visuals I almost feel should've been what Gen 5 looked like, and Gen 5 should've been how Gen 4 looked like, etc.. idk. Their jumps in visuals have been really tiny, and although it was nice, I wasn't too impressed with Gen 6's look. I don't really want chibi models or gamey tile-based maps anymore; I want to start seeing Pokemon games have slightly more natural and larger environments, with more detail and less specifically overhead stuff.

Speaking of, I hope they make a bigger variety in battle areas. Looking at that same old forest for almost every battle in the game was super lame, plus it didn't feel like you were really battling in the forest.

I'm worried we won't get that with this game though, since it's not only on New3DS but the less powerful ones too. More of gen 6's visuals would be pretty disappointing, especially if this is Gen 7 like they're making it out to be..

2 ) More adventure. I want to go in uncharted territories, go up mountains and through valleys and in volcanoes and down rivers and into BIG caves (not simple Pokemon Zubat cave knockoffs). I want to explore and feel like I'm taking a real journey here; which XY didn't really deliver on too well. I also want more towns and areas that aren't directly connected to game story progress, like how Couriway Town was except bigger and with more areas like that.

3 ) That I get my ass handed to me. I think it's an understatement to say that Pokemon XY was wayyyy too easy. Battles were a breeze in that game compared to past titles thanks to the (admittedly awesome addition of) EXP sharing. You'd imagine that if we're gonna have a new thing like that, then battles would be more balanced because of it, but for some reason they weren't and everything was a cakewalk.

Also, this wouldn't be so bad either if the game wasn't so unnecessarily congratulatory of the player. Everyone praised you every step of your way and treated you like you were the greatest trainer of all time (even the gym leaders and elite 4, before you even fought them!), and it made everything in the game feel like a casual stroll with no real stakes. I want to feel challenged, and that everyone thinks I'm dirt, because then I get git gud and I earned those badges and that cred. Don't just hand me Pokemon and items and then patronize me for being a competent human being, sheesh. :v

Top it off with extremely useful objects laid all over the map in the wide open, and XY felt like a super casual baby's first Pokemon game. I don't want that.

4 ) Post game content. Remember in XY how you had those friends that cheered you on and your rival was like "we're gonna continue training together and have fun times and be best friends and stuff"? Sounds great, right?

Yeah, just as you finally let the cute rival character and your friends warm up into your stupid heart, they straight up disappear forever in post-game (besides said rival being battle-able on Multiplayer Island for just about no reason other than because ok whatever). So all those fun times you could've had with them doing shenanigans or going places with them or doing anything at all is gone. You're left with a Battle Mansion and a pretty cool detective thing sideplot but literally nothing else. It's pretty boring and makes me not feel like going back.

Don't do that to me again, Game Freak. Das lame.

5 ) Let my Pokemon follow me. Please? That and Amie in one game would be the perfect combo.

---

Anyways yeah I hope they address at least some of these. I'll probably still enjoy the game, but I wouldn't be able to help not feeling disappointed if the game doesn't try to improve the visuals, or is still too easy or safe to convention.

[TCB]

Ah roughly 24 hours since the games' official confirmation and we have reached one hundred posts. I'd say that pretty impressive in some ways seeing as all we go from the reveal was the logos and a handful of off centered concept art, lol.

[ThePrinceOfSaiyans]

We're doing biggest hopes, are we? Alright

• Multiple Difficulty Levels: I don't know about everyone else, but I'm tired of these newer Pokemon games being total cake walks. We need improved AI, levels that better scale with the new experience share(or simply make the experience share unavailable until the post game for the higher difficulty setting(s)), and gym leaders with more Pokemon. I hate the 3 Pokemon limit that has been imposed. At the very least, limit the player to the number of Pokemon the gym leader uses to make it more interesting. 
• An Asshole Rival: I'm getting sorta tired of these passive rivals who encourage you every step of the way. I want someone who I actually aspire to beat, whether it be because they're genuinely strong, or someone I don't like, and therefore want to beat so I can rub it in his or her face.
• Specific Mega Evolutions: The megas I'm looking for in these games include the following
  • Sandslash
  • Kingler
  • Flygon
  • Milotic
  • Every final evolution of every starter ever, but I know that's unrealistic right now, so I'd settle for Johto starters and or Kalos starters. 
  • Venemoth
  • Mega Eeveelutions
  • Primeape
  • Solrock
  • Lunatone
  • Victreebel
  • Skarmory
  • Kingdra
  • Donphan
  • Nidoking
  • Nidoqueen
  • Crobat
  • Tentacruel
  • Drapion
  • Scolipede

[Celestia]

Another full on antagonistic rival ala Gen 1 and 2 would be nice. They don't necessarily have to have a similar personality, either. Maybe a rival  who's not particularly mean to you or anything, but as it turns out they're a member of this region's Evil Team? Then again that sounds a bit too similar to N. Hmmm.

[TCB]

Hey remember that item in X&Y called the Strange Souvenir? It had no reasonable use for it and can be sold for a measly 5 dollars in shops? And the guy who gives it to you is backpacker who doesn't come from any of the previous regions? And this item can't be obtained normally in ORAS? Food for thought. 

As for hopes and dreams I've touched up upon them in previous pages but nonetheless:

An ACTUAL Difficulty Curve: NO EXP SHARE NEAR THE START OF THE GAME. This was the game breaker for both of my regional adventures. Have us train with having trainers whose AI isn't as mind numbing easy, challenging encounter rates, make the Gym Leaders an ACTUAL challenge. I get why they want to simplify the mechanics for the causal, but don't sack rice everything for the hardcore fans who hope for a little more challenge themselves. I'm talking Platinum level of hard. If they can bring back the difficulty levels of B2W2 that'll be great, but if so please have that as an option at the start of the game, not locked behind the post game which by them it can be moot.

More Visually Appealing Environment: Already explained what I hope to see. ORAS Hoenn is now my most favorite region in terms of how vibrant things are, and graphically the over world compared to XY is appears to. Even then, I hope that this region feels more organic and not tied down to the restrictive squarish nature that Game Freak employs in the games. While I liked Hoenn the same blocky feel still made the place feel a bit dull. Since I see the graphical improvements of XY -> ORAS to that of DP -> Pl -> HGSS of how a generation improved visually I hope Sun and Moon can do the same.

Post Game: I get harken get back the roots for XY had a few pros, it definitely had a lot of cons, especially for the post game, if you can call it that. Outside the Looker side quest it was virtually non existent. At least it felt that way. Especially since it's predesccor has arguably the 2nd best post game ever (behind the Johto based games of course). It was a major letdown. ORAS swung things back in the right direction with its enjoyable Delta Episode and I hope S&M has not only something like that, but other post game areas that B2W2 managed to do. Speaking of one of those things...

Post Game REMATCHES: Not even ORAS had them, and while I get these games were mostly tied in with the originals with subtle hints of Emerald, it sucks that the entire 6th Gen had no sort of Gym Leader rematches of any kind.

As for Evil Teams/Main Game Advneture Stuff...I've been in the game for so long I just know things won't change to much. It would be nice to have a female leader of said evil team though. Or perhaps this evil team is like a family with a secret organization or something. But THOSE are more of a pipe dreamt hen what was already said I feel.

Mega Evolutions: All I want to see is my boy Mega Flygon get confirmed. After that I don't care. Maybe Mega Milotic. Honestly I don't want that many Pokemon to get a Mega, not every final stage Pokemon should really get one.

But MEGA FLYGON SHOULD GET ONE CMON GAME FREAK PLEASE 

[ThePrinceOfSaiyans]

Oh yes, a god damn Battle Frontier! I was sorely disappointed that it wasn't in ORAS. Even HG/SS got one!

Edited February 27, 2016 by ThePrinceOfSaiyajins

[TCB]

2 minutes ago, ThePrinceOfSaiyajins said:

Oh yes, a god damn Battle Frontier! I was sorely disappointed that it wasn't in Emerald. Even HG/SS got one!

Uh there was a Battle Frontier in Emerald. That's where it made its debut. You meant how ORAS didn't have one right?

[ThePrinceOfSaiyans]

That was a typo, I fixed it. 

[Celestia]

I really don't get why post game rematches aren't a staple of the series yet. Only, what, a couple of games have even had them at all (not counting the Elite Four + Champion rematches which IIRC have always been a thing)? It's really strange since it doesn't seem like it'd be hard to do at all? Like, just have the gym leaders meet somewhere or other and you can go and challenge them whenever. Maybe even give you an option to adjust the difficulty--that is, you can choose what level their team is roughly all going to be at, which would also help with training newly hatched Pokemon, etc.

Speaking of which, difficulty settings should absolutely be a thing. I'm all for the series being accessible to younger / less skilled players, but for players like myself who can breeze through the main campaign of these games easily, I'd really appreciate the option to make things more difficult.

.....Also please bring back giving the later Gym Leaders six Pokes. Seriously. It's pathetic seeing the eighth gym leaders with a team of four or five Pokemon at most.

Edited February 27, 2016 by Celestia

[TCB]

10 minutes ago, Celestia said:

I really don't get why post game rematches aren't a staple of the series yet. Only, what, a couple of games have even had them at all (not counting the Elite Four + Champion rematches which IIRC have always been a thing)? It's really strange since it doesn't seem like it'd be hard to do at all? Like, just have the gym leaders meet somewhere or other and you can go and challenge them whenever. Maybe even give you an option to adjust the difficulty--that is, you can choose what level their team is roughly all going to be at, which would also help with training newly hatched Pokemon, etc.

Speaking of which, difficulty settings should absolutely be a thing. I'm all for the series being accessible to younger / less skilled players, but for players like myself who can breeze through the main campaign of these games easily, I'd really appreciate the option to make things more difficult.

.....Also please bring back giving the later Gym Leaders six Pokes. Seriously. It's pathetic seeing the eighth gym leaders with a team of four or five Pokemon at most.

HGSS had the best way to do Gym Leader rematches, by actually going out of your way to find them, get their number, then deciding on the day to call them. It worked with the day and night seven days a week feature too. As far as them having a full six Mon team at the most you'll ever see one in the main game is with five, but otherwise I totally agree.

[Sean]

Platinum's method was the best. They were randomized on a daily basis but there were three or four of them you could fight at once. And unlike HGSS you didn't have to go out of your way to look for their damn numbers and then call them on certain times of certain days.

Though IIRC you can fight gym leaders multiple times in HGSS just as long as it was within that time frame. That's kind of a plus, but they probably had to do that because there's just no other way to efficiently level up your team in those games.

[TCB]

11 minutes ago, Sean said:

Platinum's method was the best. They were randomized on a daily basis but there were three or four of them you could fight at once. And unlike HGSS you didn't have to go out of your way to look for their damn numbers and then call them on certain times of certain days.

Though IIRC you can fight gym leaders multiple times in HGSS just as long as it was within that time frame. That's kind of a plus, but they probably had to do that because there's just no other way to efficiently level up your team in those games.

Oh right right yeah Platinum really did have the best method of doing it, the only draw back as that it was one and done til the next time. Personally I liked the fetching their number quest in HGSS. Not everyone's cup of tea, but hey guess I'm in the minority on that.

...I appreciating Platinum a lot more for what it did now.

[Salamander]

I think my biggest hope of all is for something less predictable.  The plotlines of most of the games in the series have been essentially identical and bafflingly paced - the dramatic climax is usually between the seventh and eighth gyms, what the heck? - but lately they've started appling formula to things like the number of Pokemon each trainer has, each gym leader, things ilke that.  It's all so formal and unimaginative; like they're just going through the motions and don't really care about anything except building the game according to formula and shuffling the player along as quickly as possible to the postgame so they can battle competitively.  XY felt like an interesting game struggling to be let out from the vicelike grasp of developers who simply weren't interested in what they were making.

[Kuzu]

Welp, got my Blue version off of the E-shop.

 

Anyway, I'm rather simple when it comes to Pokemon so I don't require much to get enjoyment out of it. However, I do wish for some things.

 

A Veteran mode of sorts; People who grew up in this franchise need more of a challenge, I really wish the AI was a lot smarter so we can actually think about how to progress for once. Fire Emblem added such a feature, so I don't see why Pokemon can't. I had fun with XYORAS, but goddamn did I breeze through them effortlessly. 

Something similar to Gen V where it was nothing but new Pokemon throughout the game and all of the old mons are post-game. Really made those games feel "new".

Speaking of, yea post-game challenge mode like the World Tournament or Battle Frontier would be fine as a time waster if I'm not battling on Wifi. Its something I've missed a lot, especially since Black 2 and White 2 brought that back.

 

And that's about it? I guess? Pokemon is like the embodiment of "If it ain't broke"; I know a lot of people disagree with it, but the formula just works for me, but I do admit to wanting more out of the franchise in recent years, probably why I got so bored of Gen VI so quickly.

[Semi-colon e]

I don't mind what they have going in terms of gameplay or even being linear, but I just want a bit more challenge and some variation. BW and BW2 somewhat mixed it up significantly more than any game after GSC, so going back to basics in XY is almost underwhelming. XY had an interesting region with lots of cool areas, but was pretty much barrelling you to the end. I don't mind linearity, it was just kind of eh in some aspects.

[Kuzu]

Wasn't one of the criticisms of Gen V how much they changed up the formula tho?

[Semi-colon e]

3 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

Wasn't one of the criticisms of Gen V how much they changed up the formula tho?

Kind of. A lot of people didn't like how it was entirely new Pokemon until the postgame and how some of the new ones were essentially replacements for old ones (think Roggenrolla for Geodude). Honestly, it was one of my favourite things about Gen 5, even in BW2 where there were some old Pokemon too. Can't please everyone, I guess.

[TCB]

9 minutes ago, Kuzu the Boloedge said:

Wasn't one of the criticisms of Gen V how much they changed up the formula tho?

From what I remember the only real criticisms were some of the Pokemon designs and a linear main game, but the latter was in a much smaller view than the former. 

*shrug* I actually liked that you were forced to use these new Pokemon on the main quest, because it gives you one of the reasons behind these games in the first place; it's a whole new adventure far away from the Japan geocentric games of the past. It also made things a hell of a lot more fresher in my eyes.

[Kuzu]

I honestly think Platinum and Black/White 2 handled it the best; there were enough new Pokemon to be invested, but there were still enough old ones around too so that they weren't forgotten. 

 

I also really wish they got someone else in to write the plot for these games. They're getting progressively better at it, but boy do I long for something more...ambitious?

[Lord-Dreamerz]

Some real story altering options for once would be nice. How many of you are tired of the following?

Professor: You'll to help me with my Pokemon research right?
Player: No.
Professor: Let me ask again. You'll to help me with my Pokemon research right?
...And it repeats until the player says.
Player: ... Ugh, fine!

Alternate paths story would be great. I think you should even be able to choose to become a member of the badguy team if you feel like it. I know the company wants to teach the kid players good morals… but come ooooon… freedom of choice is so fun in RPGs. :V

[Sean]

Forcing you to just use the new Pokemon was a pretty lame choice. I played through Black twice, and it's just really limiting because a large majority of gen5 Pokémon were counterparts of Kanto species. Hardly felt "new" to me. Plus, a lot of gen5 Pokés imo had lame movepools.

One of my favorite things about XY is how each route had tons of species to choose from. I can't imagine any two playthroughs being the same. B2W2 was also really good in that it was quick to introduce more interesting 'mons early on, such as Growlithe and Riolu.

[TCB]

One of the things I was was actually looking forward to doing in XY actually was having a full team of Kalos only Pokemon, so I was a bit bummed when there were only less than 70 (at the time) to even choose from. I nice balance of what Plaitnum and admittedly B2W2 did with their Pokedex selection. 

[Sean]

I think GF knew that most people just wanted to see a ton of their favorite Pokémon in 3D and that's one potential reason as to why there was a lack of focus on Kalos 'mons. I knew right off the bat that I would have been disappointed as hell if I had to wait until much later or during the post-game just to use most of my favorites

[TCB]

I suppose so. Different strokes after all. Hopefully Sun and Moon with rectify that and balance out both sides of the coin.

[ElectricAngel]

Yeahhh I'm not feeling this. I really wanted another Kalos game. Jumping in a new generation feels too soon. Then again maybe it's just me getting older and life going by faster. Spooky. But as long as they don't take steps back like in ORAS (and yes I know it was for nostalgic purposes) I think I'll be fine in the end. The concept art does look beautiful. I always like tropical settings. Reminds me of Greece, and anything that reminds me of Greece always gives me a warm fuzzy feeling. And tropical settings are always relaxing.  

So, I've been saying how Z could have been the perfect Pokemon game. I guess now Sun and Moon have a chance of that. Things I want to see is

-New 3DS Power Boost

There's no reason for the game to lag anymore, and more sections should be available to play in 3D, if not the whole game. One of the bad parts of XY and ORAS was that the game's framerate would go to shit if you turned on the 3D or if two or more big Pokemon were in a battle. No more of that please. I'd actually want the new games to be New 3DS exclusive (despite me not having one yet) if only for them to get the maximum performance they can. But seeing as they are compatible with the normal 3DS, I hope the New 3DS's extra power can help with providing a smoother experience, like Hyrule Warriors Legends.

-More Customisation Options

It was cool to dress up your character how you want in XY and I was sad it was taken away from ORAS. So I want to see it back in Sun and Moon. But they'd need to add a greater variety in clothing and options. I want to be able to remove my hat, wear the sunglasses, maybe add the option for normal glasses too. I also want the female trainer to be able to switch from handbag to backpack if wanted. Heck, give the option to the male trainer too. Also, more shoe options please. Seeing as this game will take place in a tropical setting, sandals would be a nice option to have. And some more formal shoes could be added too in case a trainer wanted to go for that "rich boy/girl" classy look. Perhaps I'm asking for too much, and I know it's Pokemon, not Animal Crossing or something, but I feel more options could be added. 

-Battle Frontier/Plaza

I.. can't even remember if XY had this but if it did, it was probably small in scale. I want them to go big again. Something like Platinum. I want to see an online battle plaza where you can play mini-games and play multi-player battles against people in real time. And having a general offline plaza with different battle modes like in the DS titles (I'm thinking BW now) would be fun. Also this would add a lot of replay value, I feel.

-Touch Screen "Apps"

One of the things I liked about DP was the Poketch. It was a very unique way of utilising the touch screen. If we have something of a mix between it and the Nav features in ORAS, I think it'd be really cool. I wouldn't be against having a smartphone in the game, actually. Then you could also use it for calls like in HGSS. I just want something cool to be down there, not like in XY where it was just showing passerby and other players online. 

-Training Institute

Maybe I'm being picky with this, but I'd like some sort of building you could go to specifically for training Pokemon. Think of the restaurants in XY, but free entrance and an option to pick what type of Pokemon you want to battle. It can be great for testing out strategies and levelling up your Pokemon. I just hated the grinding I had to do in ORAS and how slow it was. The restaurants in XY were fine, but it'd be cool to have a dedicated training area. Maybe it could teach people like me about IVs and EVs, because even with Super Training, I don't know how they work. 

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Just take everything good from XY and past games, tweak and improve them, take advantage of the hardware, and go all out with it. It's the 20th anniversary after all. If we get anything short of amazing, I'll be disappointed. Though seeing as many people didn't like XY here, and I thought it was near perfect, I guess I'm easily pleased.