Too much hype?
We’ve spent what feels like an eternity salivating over each new detail revealed about Pokémon Sun & Moon, but what if they don’t meet the enormous expectations fans have built up around the pair of titles. I’m not necessarily saying they won’t, in fact I’m quite optimistic that they’ll be great games, but today let’s look at three worrying signs that these games may not get the amazing reception we hope they will.
1. They revealed too much
Ever seen a movie trailer that reveals an important twist about a movie before its even out? We’ve been seeing those kind of trailers for about 9 months now. There are details we may not know about Team Skull or the Aether Foundation, but it doesn’t seem like there are many characters we haven’t at least glimpsed.
One of the most entertaining aspects of the Pokémon franchise has been discovering and catching new Pokémon, but this time around there won’t be many new faces that haven’t already been used in promotional clips. After Game Freak handed ROM hackers the information on a silver platter it confirmed that we’ve basically seen everything.
Even what could have been a great post-game secret for longtime fans was revealed in the last Sun & Moon information release; imagine how many mouths would have dropped to suddenly see Red and Blue stroll up for a battle, looking older just like the players themselves.
2. Island Challenge still untested
Many fans have wanted some sort of change to the typical gym setup that Pokémon games have been using for the last 20 years, but it remains to be seen whether or not the new Island Challenge format will be an actual improvement. One of the things I’m personally most worried about is the potential for overusing fetch quests which simply require players backtrack and grab an item without much real gameplay.
We’ve already seen that the Pyukumuku “sidequest” lacked any real animation and Mallow was seen asking the trainer for not one, but four items that need to be gathered. Maybe each requires a battle to get, but I want to train Pokémon, not kill 10 rats.
3. Z-Moves are meh
The first time seeing your favorite Pokémon pulling off a special Z-move: amazing. The hundredth time? Probably significantly less so. These once-a-battle attacks have a unique premise, but it isn’t quite clear why players will care to use them if they have to sit through 5-10 seconds of animation when a regular attack would probably wipe the floor with an NPC’s Pokémon.
Apparently these are supposed to give currently non-competitive Pokémon a fighting chance to stand up to top-tier threats, but I’m still unconvinced Eevee will suddenly be able to go toe-to-toe with its Extreme Evoboost (although Baton Passing those stats is a bit mouthwatering).
Judging by the way Mega Evolution was treated, we may not even want to invest ourselves in the system too deeply for fear of it getting yanked away a generation later.
Looking Ahead
There are other things I could have mentioned, such as shoehorned typings (Lycanroc… Lurantis…) or the lackluster Alolan Forms (Meowth, Rattata), but I think the above three are what worry me the most.
Hopefully these will all be unfounded fears and the games will have enough content to blow our minds. We’ll see in two weeks!
Can I ask what you mean by shoehorned typings?
I mean that Lycanroc barely has any rock-like features (especially bad on Midnight version), Lurantis is obviously a bug, they’ve tacked on Fairy-type to quite a few Pokémon, etc. Doesn’t seem to have a natural flow, more like they were meeting quotas
I don’t think that’s all that new to the franchise. There’s plenty of Pokémon that look like they belong to another type. I used to think that Phanphy was a Normal type…
Really, I think they’re stepping out of their comfort zones with these designs.
I see what you mean. I agree with both you and Narukami below. Some designs have nothing to do with their types, but Yu brings up a good point that many pokemon throughout the franchise have a type that doesn’t really reflect in their design: palkia, charizard not being dragon, etc.
Just like how people can look at me and say alolan Neckboi is a dragon. I get what it’s based off of, but Gyrados is actually based of a dragon, and is that a dragon type?
Fomatis and Lurantis are grass creatures that imitate bugs. Fomantis’s name literally means faux mantis as in a fake mantis.
It’s just like how Sudowoodo is a rock that imitates plants. It’s the same concept.
YES FIRST! FINALLY! and I like alolan Persian. I feel the z moves will be alright, its really to too much different from watching your pokemon mega evolve each battle, just a little longer. I’m really excited for it. I do agree with the trials, I feel they will have many more story segments to include more battling, because the trials seem to not have much, if any at all. here’s hoping these games are good.
*boos off stage*
What about the theory of gym leaders coming back before the league? Actually all those empy spaces look weird, but gyms seem a bit unrealist too. What do you think?
I actually started a rant about this topic that spiraled out of control and turned into a six page essay (sorry, I love to write)
If I emailed that to you, would you be cool posting that as some kind of editorial? I really want to know what people think in response, but youtube comments are not the place for intelligent discussion.
I’m incredibly curious so I hope you post it somewhere
Yes it could 100% dissappoint. Same as XY and ORAS dissappointed.
Not because of all the Pokemom being revealed but because of the low numbers of new Pokemon (using Alolans as an excuse for not making new Pokemon).
Also I’m not yet fully on board with the whole trials thing. I don’t see how they will be engaging enough or keep us motivated to do them. The Gym Leader / E4 thing has been done to death I agree, but that at least gave us something to work towards. We had to ‘collect’ the badges, then face the E4 and finally the Champion. You got a sense of accomplishment at the end.
How did ORAS disappoint? It was a remake you more or less already knew what you were getting.
That’s the point. I knew it was a remake. But I expected it to add in some extra stuff like FRLG and HGSS did. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case or at least not to the same extent as the previous remakes did
I loved OR/AS but my one pet peeve is that you still couldn’t re-battle your rival daily. That was something from the original games that really should’ve gotten changed/updated.
Also I honestly think there actually WAS potentional to make Delta Emerald into it’s own whole game, contrary to what some people think. I mean emerald had you battle both teams, and because of this added some entire new hideout areas. And the part where you team up with steven to battle magma leader and admin at once. That never happens in OR/AS, only admin & grunt together. My other gripe, which I also had with X/Y, is that the admins are just plain weak and have very few pokemon on their teams.
Oddly enough, its nostalgia factor was perfect for me…in that it brought back a number of negative feelings by dropping things that were in a previous installment, just like the originals did.
No longer being able to connect to previous games
No more customization
and yes, the too much water thing is a legit complaint. If you want a region with ocean like waters, rebuild a mechanic around it, don’t just leave wide open routes with cave like encounter rates. They could have zeroed out the encounter rate, made it over the shoulder and then had wild pokemon appear as shadows on the map that chase you if you get too close
SAAAAAAAAAME
i like that idea alot.
ORAS is my favorite remake. lol Kalos as a region being so empty was definitely disappointing. Like, they hadn’t made such an empty world since the original games, but those were different times. BUT XY introduced 3D models, Megas, and Fairy so it’s hard for me to stay disappointed for longer than 30 seconds.
Agreed! I LOVED ORAS
I never really played the original RS but Emerald is my favourite Pokemom game to date. I just expected ORAS to incorporate some of the elements from there (like HGSS did with Crystal). But alas it wasn’t meant to be.
Yeh I still enjoyed traversing through the newly updated Hoenn region but it didn’t do enough for me unfortunately
Fair. I will admit I wanted the extra story elements added from Emerald. But, for me personally, it didn’t effect my love for the games.
ORAS is amazing and XY were kind of prototypes for the 3d and new models, overworld and stuff they were never going to be the best imo
I liked X/Y more then ORAS
ORAS and XY did not disappoint you doofus.
they did for me
There is no objective, proper noun “The” hype. If your sitting here expecting this game to be 100000x cooler than what they’ve revealed then that’s your fault, in my honest opinion. Going off of what they’ve revealed, I’m very excited to play with the new Pokémon, improved battle menu, IV training, Battle Tree, and explore the new region.
Remember when people thought Pokemon Go was actually going to introduce real life Pokemon into the real world…
I don’t see it dissapointing.
All I want is a good story, and awesome aftergame, and some cool mons.
PLUS NOBODY TRULY KNOWS ABOUT UBS YET!!!
Oh and almost every Alolan is trash with Ninetails, Sandslash, and Muk being exceptions
This article reminded me that I have to expect nothing good from SuMo to avoid any disappointment.
I am curious what will IGN score these games , 4.8 “Too much Fairy” ???
They could go “too much water” again actually, with four islands…
Or maybe too much islands
I give IGN 0.1 for “Too much bull****”
By the way…when are we getting the first reviews? We are 14 days from s/m. When are we expecting Famitsu and the others?
“So much water, but we don’t Surf from island to island? 7.4/10” – IGN
I think more like 4.3 “why no komala evo… WHY”
Also guys… TEAM SKULL is gonna be amaze balls. They alone will make this game great.
I know :3, that makes me ultra hyped for this….. ultra beast game 😉
I kid I kid, but hey, if all else fails, there were a LOTTA good designs this gen
Also side note: Being a fan of Pokémon doesn’t require you to hunt down every single source of information on new games. You don’t HAVE to read about every new reveal. I have friends that play Pokémon but don’t follow the news. So if for some reason you need everything to be experience for the first time in-game, then stop being self-defeating by staying up to date on all the news.
Listen, don’t get mad at him for shitting on the game prerelease. We’ll always still love it. Thing is, we’ve seen a lot of new advancements that further the series, but in the long run, nothing new that really pushes what this type of game can do. It’s an upscaled pokemon game, not a revamped experience. There’s a game out there, right now, that’s already doing some of the things we still wish pokemon would do.
What game? (sorry I pretty much live under a rock)
…Yo-kai Watch?
Yeah. Comparing the two games may seem like apples to oranges (and it is in many areas) but there is a lot that pokemon could actually learn from that title.
1. I don’t see how YW is doing “some things we still wish Pokémon would do”. In fact, in some aspects YW is backwards compared to Pokémon. (i.e. Competitive battles).
2. It’s funny because people have been complaining that Pokémon has been taking too much from Level 5; from the character ages, to Rotom Pokedex, to the Z-Ring, fans have accused Game Freak of cribing from Yo-kai Watch’s success.
As someone who’s an avid fan of both series; Pokémon can never truly be Yo-kai Watch and Yo-kai Watch can never truly be like Pokémon. And that’s for the very best, like no one ever was.
Like I said, theres’ a lot of apples to oranges in there. Pokemon will always have a more in depth battle system because that’s really what it’s meant to be at its core, a battle simulator. Yokai watch completely overshadows Pokemon when it comes to things like exploration, world detail, writing (feels more natural whereas pokemon still feels full of forced whimsy) and world immersion.
Like, the most immersed I’ve ever felt in a pokemon game was in gen 6 when I could finally sit in chairs. Yokai watch 2 has a segment featuring a simulated railway system that really sets the mood. Yokai’s also got better character animations in cutscenes whereas pokemon (sun and moon mind you) suffers from stock motion syndrome. One of the bigger things is that Yokai can be played entirely with 3D on, something gen 6 and 7 have failed to do. Most importantly however, you actually use the titular yokai to solve in game problems in little vignettes whereas pokemon never requires you to have a specific pokemon to do anything other than in game trades.
I could really go on with this. Don’t get the idea that I think Yokai is the superior game, mind you. That series is full of obnoxious, archaic designs, such as Level-5’s notorious 1000 item inventories. I’m just saying, there is A LOT pokemon could be doing to be a better game overall instead of just being a better pokemon game and leaving it at that.
Ah, you fell in love Level 5’s little touches. When it comes to YW, the developers really like the small details that you don’t see in many games.
Also, it’s natural to feel immersed more in YW; YW takes place in a normal town where all the paranatural stuff is naked to the human eye. Pokémon on the other hand takes place in an alternate world where the creatures are a part of every day life.
Going of on that, the way each game handles their monsters is different; Yo-kai are supernatural beings that work behind the scenes to meddle with humans and can be negotiated with. Pokémon are basically wild animals that can be tamed. Basically, it’s like comparing a genie to your horse.
Also, keep in mind that YW and Pokémon run on different engines. YW uses smaller sprites due to the fact that you usually face them three at a time and at a fixed camera angle. Pokémon on the other hand has to use bigger models and uses different angles during battles.
As for 3D, I don’t get it; when it was first announced there was legitimate complaints about it. It drained the battery, you could only see the effect at a certain angle, it was over all gimmicky. Now that Nintendo is scaling back on it, why would anyone want it back?
And of course, the rest falls under opinion. You might find the simulated train ride engaging but others might find it boring and tedious. I personally couldn’t wait until I unlocked the Mirapo.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting a better game but comparing it to another game and holding it to those standards isn’t the way to do it. There’d be more problems than taters in Idaho.
Look, at the end of the day, I don’t feel like the pokemon get enough attention in their own game. I mean good on Gen 7 for keeping the mon amie thing (and expanding upon it!) as well as that PC box island mode, but I’d like to start seeing more involved side quests featuring them. I grew up watching the show and that’s how I imagine things go in my games for the most part; I get a team of quirky personalities and we adventure together.
However the game doesn’t reflect that in any way. All my pokemon are just interchangeable tools used to progress through the game; any thing else is all in my head. I don’t get that with Yokai watch because I know that the ones I collect can often be used to solve some event or that the lore based around them is actually reflected in game. Like, I’m just waiting to see how much of the lore described about these new pokemon actually has any relevance to the games. I was legit blown away when I saw that pyukumuku actually has a non combat related event tied to its lore. If sun and moon is filled with things like that, then this will be all I could ask for. However, it seems that, yet again, the pokemon are taking a back seat to story an human drama.
I don’t know what this game will hold, but like I said, playing Yokai watch really made me spend a lot of time thinking “what if” and killed my hype. There’s like less than 3 weeks left to go, we’ll see.
Again, let’s go back to the genie and horse analogy. Yo-kai are completely sentient beings, for the most part, and have their society and personalities. Pokémon on the other hand are wild animals and have been consistently portrayed as the equivalent to dogs and cats. The reason Pokémon had personality in the anime? They needed to have personality in order to carry the stories in anime. The anime couldn’t work as well if they just acted like the wild animals they were in the games.
And I’ve seen the human drama complaint when it comes to films like Godzilla and Transformers but I don’t think that applies to Pokémon. Anytime there’s “human drama” it always comes back to Pokémon. Little girl lost in the woods? Pokémon. The temperature rising up and heating things up? Pokémon. Time and space is distorting before your very eyes? Pokémon. Comparing the two games, I think there’s more human drama in YW than Pokémon by nature of the side quests. A big part of YW’s side quests revolve around helping out people in your neighborhood…and even then Yo-kai is why.
Playing the two games, I never ended up craving the other. I played Yo-kai Watch but I Pokémon never entered my mind; the games were too different that them taking after one another would seem off putting, even if we would like to see that. Can you imagine catching Yo-kai like you catch Pokémon?…That would be so much less stress.
ALSO: I still hope you all enjoy the game. I’m not actually angry at anyone here who fear buyers remorse. I just think you guys are overthinking it a tad.
I think the game will be great. At least GF stepped out of their comfort zone to try and keep fans capitaved by their games. The music and graphics alone are charming and inviting.
i do agree on red and blue being a post-game secret.
it would of been way more amazing to see these two pop up out of nowhere
What if after you battle them that’s when you get to go to another region? Or you battle them after becoming the champion in another region. I still feel like the 3.something gigs is too much space for one region with 4 islands and pretty much the same content as the gen 6 games. I know there’s new stuff, but not 1.5ish gigs worth of new stuff.
That will literally change my thought completely
I said that the day they were revealed, it was kind of pointless to reveal them before release tbh
Plus…. then there’s the real life kid videos and he goes back home. Which is weird. Why would they show stuff like that if it’s not in the game. Something is off. DOES ANYONE KNOW WHEN THE NEXT TRAILER/NEWS WILL BE?
there is mostly likely no new trailer coming
a launch trailer is the only one i can think is possible
Last night the Japanese channel reposted the live trailers all together. I feel like there’s going to be a trailer with the real reveals.
I don’t think the Train On videos are all that related to the in game content tho.
Here, you guys want something that’ll justify buying the games? Boot up the demo and do these two things
1) walk while rapidly tapping B
2) without holding B, spin the circle pad repeatedly.
If the game has more features like that then fine, I’ll shut the hell up.
the trainer dabs
No.. pls no
So the night before last I’m sleeping and there is this weird noise coming from right outside my bedroom window. It’s the strangest noise and I figured it was just in my head or I was imagining it. The next morning as we were walking the dog, this GIANT owl is in the same tree. The owl has never been there before. It’s a sign… that I need Decidueye on my Moon team…. Then my two sun versions will have Incineroar and Primarina. BUT I feel like the real me, personality wise, would have Decidueye, and then there is this owl outside my bedroom window talking to me…
You’re going to buy 3 copies of the game?
Yes.
I pre-ordered on Amazon Prime, cheaper than GameStop. And they deliver the day it’s released.
Why not just restart with a new starter, send all your pokemon to bank after beating it and then back again when playing a new file?
but you cant use the bank till January
That’s only a few months away, not an eternity.
Cause that’s not the way I roll… I like to play simultaneously with each character.
I may cancel one Sun version until later but I have Cosimo (My alter ego) who has Incineroar, Jeff (the real me) who has Decidueye, and then Aurora who was the female character and has Primarina
I canceled the second Sun version. Here are my teams:
Jeff (Sun):
Decidueye
Lycanroc (Midday)
Ninetales (Alola)
Crabrawler2
Bewear
Oricorio (Baile Style) or Salandit2
Cosimo (Moon):
Incineroar
Kommo-o
Lycanroc (Midnight)
Oranguru
Anchor Wheel
Pikipek3 (the Toucan)
didnt like oras show all the new megas before launch?
Yep. Even showed the delta episode I believe.
i mean the suprise aspect of pokemon seems to be over, Corocoro used to be a main source of reveals now its just trailers, we got 2-3 trailers per month with pokemon being shown in like everyone. so i can see why people think we revealed too much but i think revealing alot is what draws people in because we barely even know the story still
To be fair since ORAS is a remake they needed SOMETHING to show us. It’s not like there were crazy story details we didn’t know about. The main story still happened roughly the same way as the originals. lol
My hype shall not die regardless because the demo alone had me excited like it was my first christmas lol NOTHING CAN KILL MY HYPE NOTHING!!!!
I agree with all of this.
But that doesn’t mean the games are going to be bad, just dont expect anything mind blowing
Z powers are just an awful idea… & I thought mega’s were horrible when revealed. Compared to Z I love mega’s..
They shouldnt change too much in pokemon games… I miss the gyms already..
Wow I couldn’t disagree more.
Ditto!
Yuppers lol
Same, fandom complains for change, they get it, they complain
Mhm.
See thats the mentality that kills games. If developers aren’t allowed to try new, innovative things the franchise will never grow. If Sun and Moon fails they’ll learn from their mistakes, hopefully. I personally dont miss gyms. They are small rooms with simple puzzles some trainers and a boss battle. I mean as long as Trials have battles in bewteen and a boss battle they’ll be close enough to a gym, I’d think.
i didnt say no new things, only not change too much..
Hopefully this isn’t gonna be a game like yokai watch.. I got that vibe though while playing the demo.. C-mon taking pictures of pokemon..
As a side quesf
stil sucked
Then don’t do it then
But, it might make catching rarer pokemon easier.
They didn’t really change too much, though. They took gyms and placed them in nature. At least that’s how I view it.
Taking pictures of Pokemon! It’s not like they’ve ever done that one. With all the throwbacks in his game, a Pokémon Snap-like mode is not surprising, nor unwelcome.
“Pokémon is taking too much from Yo-kai Watch.”
“Pokémon isn’t taking enough from Yo-kai Watch.”
Can’t we all agree they’re different games that do different things?
I don’t think knowing about certain things before the release means the games will be disappointing. We still need to experience finding/catching/battling/etc all the Pokemon for ourselves. That alone can be a treat. Yes finding a brand new Pokemon they’ve never shown is exciting, but you have to take what you can get. While a lot of the Pokemon WERE revealed officially, there were still some that weren’t. You can blame data mining for us knowing the remaining Pokemon. lol I think I can agree on the Z moves. Eventually they’ll just become common place and the overall effect will wear off and it’ll just be another animation we have to sit through. The same can be said about mega evolutions tho. Sure they aren’t as amazing as the first time you use them, but their function still remains useful and that’s all you can really ask for. As for the trials…..Whenever a new game comes out, and it doesn’t have to be a Pokemon game, there is always a risk that the main story/mechanic/whatever is going to be a dud. It can be said of any and every game that has or ever will come out. It’s a risk that all gamers have to take when buying a new game. It’s one of those things that you won’t know until you try it and even then it’s up to the individual to decide whether it’s a change they like or dislike. Some may enjoy the trials and some may not. That doesn’t mean it was a useless attempt tho. Whether Sun and Moon are good in this way or not the fact remains that GF are trying to change things up. I’d rather have a game that’s slightly flawed then have to play the same story over and over again just because of a saying “If it’s not broke then don’t fix it” We will just have to wait and see if this new adventure is worth the time. Hopefully it is. We may have nearly all the new Pokemon, but there are plenty of surprises and plot details that we don’t have. It’s up to us to watch the story unfold.
The demo already killed my hype
Same for me. Like, I know it’s not the full game but I honestly didn’t feel very excited about it.
ya but I think the game will be awesome or so I hope xd
How?
it was shit
Lurantis has a shoehorned typing? Where?
probably the fact that there are no type differences between the Midday and Midnight forms, especially when Midnight Lycanroc could have EASILY been a Rock/Dark type due to being a werewolf
That’s not Lurantis :p
As for Lycanroc, it’s not really ‘evil’ though, and tbh I trust GameFreak more than anyone here when it comes to types.
oh right sorry XD In the article they are both mentioned together and I’m still very asleep XD (just woke up)
Maybe he means that Lurantis could have easily been Grass/Bug instead of Pure Grass
The thing is though Lurantis’ very concept is the fact its a reverse orchid mantis, if it was Bug or Bug/Grass it’d defeat the point of its theme
Also, as much as I like Dark, I’m glad that Lycanroc is pure rock. Lol “I am a pokemon who like to takes hits, but im 4x weak to getting hit by a fighting mon so ill probably die in one glorious blow unless i have a focus sash on, but most enemies will see that coming from a mile away.” XD
Rip Hypothetical dark Lycanroc
Mhm lol
I agree I see a hot blooded contender who fights with a great deal of initiative
Yeah, it’s just hot blooded, not based on evil or any sort of evil trait (such as gangs like Pangoro and Scrafty)
To be fair Pangoro are actually quite virtuous
Yeah but it’s more a ‘dark is not evil’ thing and it still has some thug behaviour, it’s just a thug with a heart of gold
I think it’s cool we got a Rock type that isn’t just a Rock.
Again I mention no Mega Lunatone or Mega Solrock and no Alolan Alomomola.
Personally I still think Alolan Lunatone and Solrock with Minior’s ability would have been nifty.
Who honestly gives a shit
Whilst some do and I’d say not to say such things, I do agree with the sentiment that I personally don’t care
Oh no irrelevant old Pokémon didn’t get anything in a new game because the hilarious joke factor
If anything they may get a unique Z move.
No thanks, would rather relevant Pokémon like the starters and mascots would get them
Same!
Well that’s already out the window with Snorlax.
But, Snorlax is iconic Sol and Luna aren’t.
Snorlax, Pikachu, Raichu and Eevee are actually iconic though
Solrock and Lunatone are irrelevant Gen III pokemon nobody cares about before now
I still want to see a Snorlax use Pulverizing Pancake on Alolan Exeggutor
Kinky.
I’m already happy about these games because of them introducing Rowlet’s line and Silvally.
I’ve finally gotten a cat design I like. I’m content.