Pokémon Sun - Nintendo 3DS

Great value

Ive been having a good time with Pokemon Sun thus far, but I will say that it almost feels a bit overbearing in the ways it provides things to you. Youll feel like youre constantly have the bar for your performance set lower and lower, even as slight challenges begin to mount. Even then, the type-counter based combat saps you of any feeling resembling intelligence when all thats involved is understanding the relationships between types and switching Pokemon out accordingly. The Alolan region itself does have quite a bit of charm to it though, something thatll make the good-not-great gameplay seem all the better. I havent finished the main story (or the post-game content for that matter) but I have a feeling Ill enjoy the game more once it really gets to be about the minutiae of training up your whole team to beat seemingly unfair odds.

Its good.. lengthy story that took me several days at a few hours a day to complete. (I do take the time to soft reset for correct legends and such). Has some post game pokes to hunt down per usual. But meta game folks will not be happy about post game leveling. They have a feature in the game that allows you to boost IVs with the very rare bottle caps.. at level 100. Ok, great- evens the playing field a bit for people like me who put in the effort to actually raise and train battle-ready Pokemon (other people just cheat battle Pokemon into the game using hack/coding programs). Or not... Because the leveling is old school, where you get less experience as you level up. For example, if you KO a level 50 Pokemon, youll get less and less experience for that same Pokemon as you level. Theres no battle Maison. No restaurants. Lengthy Elite 4 battles with cutscenes... Theres literally no way to train them up to 100 without spending countless hours beating the elite 4 over and over, with only 3 or 4 Pokemon in your party (for higher exp share spread) and the one lucky egg you get. Irritating. To say the least. And Im certainly not soft resetting on tough-to-catch Tapu Koko one more freaking time after finally getting the right nature and hidden power ice. No way. So Ill need to fix his IVs a bit.. how do I get him to level 100? Painstaking HOURS of repetition. Ugh.

Ill keep this review updated as I go but this is the most unplayable DAY 1 release Ive ever witnessed and Ive been buying Pokemon games on release day since red and blue back in the 90s. And despite being an oldie - I am definitely not the type to hate new changes. I loved ORAS and XY and B2W2 (XY had a small struggle because Nintendo completely bungled the Pokemon Bank release, but the game was still wonderful from day 1). The last time I was this infuriated by Pokemon was with the original Black and White when there was that annoying character following you around the whole game interrupting the flow of gameplay with inane button mashed scrolls of garbage small talk. However, this one is worse by far. It took 90 MINUTES of game play before I could even get to a Pokemon Center, save and discover that Pokemon Bank was unavailable (and sadly Pokemon bank is the least of my problems here). I had bred a level 1 Omanyte and Dunsparce in ORAS to try to make my first playthrough of Sun be more challenging (they tend to make each generation more and more idiot friendly - for example, taking away type-matching by giving players a cheat prompt now in Sun and Moon). Anyway, not being able to import my Pokemon was definitely a bummer and really inexcusable for Nintendo (theyre like the lazy employee at a job) but still not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that even after 90 minutes of absolutely horrible intro-scene/tutorial patchwork, finally being able to get to the Pokemon center -- the intro-montage STILL isnt over! Its like they have gone out of their way to design a game that should have been titled BUTTON MASH MEANINGLESS SCROLLS OF GARBAGE: Pokemon themed edition. Anyway. Im super disappointed. I dont know how anyone is supposed to get into this story line with all this crap pulling you out of the game mentally. It feels like a chore to play this so far and it shouldnt feel like that after two hours. I should actually be able to play the game at this point. :::EDIT::: Once you get past the horrible intro sequence this game is actually really good. Its not as good as ORAS but I would rate it above BW1 and BW2 (below HG/SS) But hey, its beautiful and apparently thats all most people care about. One plus, they eventually made it compatible with PokeBank. Although unlike every past gen, this one was hackable on day one so I never understood the point of putting off the PokeBank release since it just hurt people who wanted to play legit and did nothing to prevent GTS from being overrun by hack-mons and zubats.

Ive been a Pokémon fan since Gen 1 and this game is one of best ones in my opinion. The story is immersive, theres plenty of content to play through, and its a visually stunning game overall. I am in love with this game and would love future Pokémon games to be of this caliber. The only things I noticed that irked me were during double battles theres a bit of lag. The frame rate drops noticeably. Also, theres some slow loading time during screen transitions. However, both of these things werent bad enough that it hindered the gameplay so its cool with me. Overall I would definitely recommend this game to old as well as new players. Theres plenty of content and fun to be found in the Alola region.

I bought Pokémon Sun while my girlfriend got Pokémon Moon. We both played the 6th gen as well. Pros 1. Fresh story line with some fresh Pokémon in a new location. Everything looks good. 2. Some new mechanics to help keep things interesting. 3. The trials are a fun new thing to replace gym battles. 4. Tons of extra game content to keep you busy. 5. Easy to engage with online players. 6. Better options and game menus help make things faster. 7. You can trade up using Poke Bank from prior generations. 8. This game just throws stuff at you all the time. Spend your money wisely and youll never run out of anything. 9. Love how you can heal Pokémon of status effects after battle. 10. Enough of the same old experience to feel familiar and nostalgic. 11. Love the whole night and day mechanic when catching Pokémon. Gives you motivation to pick up and play during certain hours. Cons 1. There are some lag issues on the older 3DS models. Especially in combat and some menus load slowly. 2. The tutorial in this game is loooooong. You have the regular tutorial stuff then you have to do some free wandering and then on to the Pokémon trainer school? OMG just give me my starter and let me go! Weve all been doing this for years, give us some credit, game! 3. The Hawaii theme is fun, but they overdo it on occasion. I get it, were in Alola now. They have a cool wave and everyone ends their sentences with yeah?... Calm down, game. 4. The characters, especially your rival, are highly one dimensional. Everyone is so hopped up on their dominant personality trait and its wildly over the top fairly often. Not terrible or anything, but I get it. Alola rocks. The professor talks like Wakka from final fantasy 10 and doesnt wear a shirt and your rival NEVER STOPS SMILING. The girl doesnt like Pokémon fighting but heals your Pokémon so you can keep doing it. Settle down, game characters. 5. The new Pokémon skins arent bad, but they arent really necessary. Did meowth really need to look like its giving you bedroom eyes 24/7? Wouldve been cool if theyd added some differences, but the Rattata is essentially the same as the other Rattata with an Italian mustache. Overall, this is another Pokémon game Ill sink dozens of hours into. I like it, its fun. Im about 6 hours in now so I still have hope the characters will even out over time. Worth the price of admission.

Pokemon is one of the highest selling, most preordered, and anticipated games for the 3DS. And for good reason (sort of). Despite the franchises age, the series seems to outsell itself with every new release. After 20 years, Game Freak has decided it might be time to shake up the formula beyond new pokemon and slight adjustments to type sets/moves. Some changes are welcomed (no HMs) while others are a bit of a head scratcher (can’t fish where you want.) I will give the game the benefit of the doubt as I am only wrapping up the second island, but most of my complaints are true issues throughout the game: 1. No 3D. Absolutely none present in the game. Unlike the previous games where 3D was limited to certain areas, this game has none at all. I have a problem with that considering I am playing this game on a 3DS. Clearly the hardware was too taxed as it is, so 3D was dumped to try and give the game a wider release. 2. This game should have been a New 3DS exclusive. The original 3DS is almost six years old and the New 3DS is almost 2 years old. There are currently only about 3 exclusive games to the New 3DS, this would have been a great opportunity to get people to move on to a new unit. I know I would have. As it is, the game supposedly runs “slightly better” on the new hardware, but that is debatable 3. The game runs poorly. Despite having released two other pokemon games for the system, Game Freak has yet to learn how to properly optimize the game. The game runs fine when walking around the world, but in battle things can get dicey. Totem battles, which happen after every trial, will make the game run slow. When the totem pokemon calls for an ally, it runs even slower. It took damn near 10 seconds from me pressing flame bite for the game to actually show the move on screen. Even single battles can cause the frame rate to dip. That is insane. How are there frame rate issues in a POKEMON GAME. This isn’t Tomb Raider or COD. 4. The game fools you into thinking it might be free roaming, but it is possibly more restricting than the original Red and Blue releases. There are trainers not letting you pass, barriers in the way, wild pokemon blocking you. All in an effort to make sure you follow this extremely linear path to the one place the game wants you to go. At least in Blue/Red you could skip gyms and come back if you wanted. 5. I feel like the probability of random battles has been raised. I can hardly walk through grass a few steps without been attacked. Maybe it is just me, but I am using more repels than ever in this game. I don’t know if it is a result in moving on a 3D plane rather than a grid, but I don’t remember having battles this much in ORAS, X/Y 6. People talk WAY too much. I understand dialog is going to happen, but this isn’t Metal Gear Solid with deep political intrigue and an engrossing story. Pokemon’s story is pretty straight forward, so why do I have to hear three different people talk and then move to another location just to have them talk some more? Even the random NPC characters have nothing interesting to say. I’m usually just trying to get the basic info and move on. Don’t drown me in exposition and unnecessary cut scenes. 7. The game is even easier than ever. A. Experience share is back, which makes leveling a joke. At least you can turn that off. B. NPCs will literally tell you where to go to next. No need to roam and maybe find something cool C. If that isn’t enough, the map will show you with a red circle D. If THAT isn’t good enough, the pokedex will TELL YOU WHERE TO GO YOU DUMMY DUM DUM E. The game tells you type advantages. God forbid you learn something F. People are constantly healing you or giving you free healing items. G. No trainer has more than 2-3 Pokemon. Not ace trainers, not trial trainers, not big Kahunas. You will steam roll everyone 8. I can’t fish where I want. Now you have to find special zones by the water to fish. You can’t just do it wherever, that wouldn’t make sense. 9. Your avatar’s stupid blank face. Every other character in the game can emote, but you are left with this stupid grin on your face that makes me want to punch him. If other people can raise their eyebrows, open their mouth, and make other expressions, why can’t I? 10. There is no audio options to raise or lower background noises and music. Maybe I just want to hear the music and no noise, or vice versa? Or just turn the music down a smidge in the mix from the battle sounds? You can’t. Most modern games give you this option but you can’t do it in pokemon. WHEW, Ok. So what do I like about this game? 1. Despite the terrible optimization and frame rate drop, I will admit the character models and environments are well made and LOOK nice. I am not condoning trading function for pretty polygons, but the art direction is quite nice. 2. I’m glad Game Freak tried to make a move in a slightly different direction with these games. Trial challenges are interesting and fun for the most part. It breaks up the monotony of the game. Granted they are not all that different from gyms, but different enough to give the old fans something fresh 3. You can move freely in all directions. No more grid based movement. I really hated this in the past two games. In the DS and gameboy days I could live with it, but when everything is fully 3d, but you still moved on a grid, that was awful. Great change. 4. No more HM slaves. Long gone is the need to have a pokemon’s move list be deluded with strength, cut, surf, etc. Now you open a menu and you can ride a pokemon past obstacles. It is a bit of a bummer that only one specific pokemon is flagged to be that specific HM (tauros for rock smash) for instance. So you can’t designate who you want. Not too big a deal 5. Pokemon refresh is a mini game of sorts where you can get rid of status ailments like poison with the touch screen. You select a brush or comb and touch the pokemon until they are healed. It is a nice inclusion as you are bound to get poisoned or paralyzed along your trip. 6. The new pokemon are perfectly fine. Haven’t run into anything yet and was disappointed with the design. They fit well with the old monsters. 7. The music is also fine. There is nothing there that will blow your mind – has a bit of a been there done that feel, but there isn’t anything in the soundtrack that will grate your ears. (trumpets) 8. There are other things to mess with like poke alego island and the festival plaza. Honestly I never really messed with these types of things much in the old games, but it is nice to have something separate from the main game to play quickly. So there you have it I guess. The game is a disappointment in my eyes. I think Game Freak will really hit it out of the park with their next release. Hopefully they move away from the old 3DS. This wobbly game will make me weary of future launch day purchases. Never thought that would be a problem with pokemon. I honestly would not recommend this game for the full price. Maybe at 30, anything lower than that and I would say go for it.

Despite the game introduced many improvements to a pokemon game, such as removing HMs, having more narrative oriented first playthrough, balance patches, and graphical improvements, I found the game a bit disappointing for following reasons. First, the volume of the game was bit small. For XY, this was acceptable as it was the first 3D game for Pokemon and the developers had to create new 3D models for 720 pokemons. However, Sun/Moon reuses the same 3D models of XY but still has very small volume. Gamefreak only added a handful of new pokemons and the second playthrough was not very intriguing as it was just catching Ultrabeasts. Second, the narrative oriented play, which seemed pretty nice at first, became painful when you replayed the game. You cannot skip what you have already saw before. Especially, at the end of the first playthrough, you have to go through about 30 minutes long, un-skippable in-game cinematics. There really isnt much to engage with, but you just hit A button to go through all the dialogues. Third, the balance patch was pretty incomplete. It solved few problems but left a lot more problems untouched, such as Garchomps strength in the meta game. And gamefreak just avoided balancing or adding you mega evolution by restricting the types of megastones you can get from the Sun/Moon. This almost felt like having the 10-20% of content cut. I really hope gamefreak rather patch the balance more frequently as they could send out patches through nintendo e shop. The meta is already stale and I think the pokebank will not change much as the untouched overused pokemons are just coming into 7th gen, gutting all the 7th gen pokemon except for a few. The game should had presented more contents and better balance.

As an original Pokemon player, Ive grown and experienced it all. And while itll be easy to simply say Sun and Moon have completely departed from the series and created something revolutionary and new like Nintendo has tried to market this generation as, that simply is not the case. Yes things feel fresh up to a point; there are no gyms, no established Elite Four, and a few other minor differences, but at the core of it you still are going from city to city challenging trainers to battles. This is what Pokemon is at its core. You can call it Island Challenges if you want, but they are still Gym battles. The biggest inclusion are the Z Moves which function as a last ditch super power up move. We see this in many games, but not yet in Pokemon, at least not until this year. Pokemon Sun and Moon are great games that are great games because it follows the traditional formula which made Pokemon a household name. All they did was simply tweak the names and paths you go through and that is how it feels fresh. Game Freak has had a successful track record and this generation continues it.

Im 24, and at the beginning there was a lot of hand-holding, which I hated. As the game progressed that went away, but be prepared for the first hour or two of game play to be clicking A. I got Sun for me and Moon for my boyfriend. We play together and it is a really fun game to enjoy with others. There are some Pokemon like Rockruff that evolve into something different depending on the game you have, so it is a good idea to plan out with a friend to each buy a different game so you can collect them all. Some additions to the game that I like: Easier maneuvering on the pokemon PC. You can now deposit, withdrawal, and move pokemon at the same time. The ability to ride different Pokemon. Some additions I dont like: There is no 3D, which I think is ridiculous. I heard it was because they made it for other systems too, but I think that is unacceptable because I have a 3DS, so you better make it 3D capable.They also made it pretty immature and seemly for a very young audience, and at times things seem too easy, but luckily catching Pokemon seems to be more difficult as the game goes on. I am halfway through the game, but overall I love it, and would recommend it.