Things We Didn’t Like About Sun & Moon

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Easily one of the best entries in the series, if not, arguably the best, Pokémon Sun & Moon has taken players by storm. And with only a month since its initial release it’s already broken sale records and danced its way into our hearts – but no game is perfect. Here are some things we didn’t like about our adventure through Alola.

 

The Rotom Pokedéx

Revealed as one of the first huge, new features of Gen VII in the early days of Sun & Moon’s prerelease the Rotom ‘Dex promised to give personality and new features to the age old Pokedéx. Instead we got an annoying, forgettable talking bottom screen whose dialogue was never really welcome or something we looked forward to. In terms of new features, it did give us useful pin point directions through the main story line and the Poké Finder (more on that later), but once you became the Champion Rotom didn’t serve any use other than giving very meaningless, repetitive commentary as your completed the Alola ‘Dex. And it’s completely baffling that they never made this new Rotom Form catchable and useable in battle. Overall, the Rotom Pokedéx was a fantastic idea to breathe life into such an old, unchanged device in the game, but its personality is much more suited for the anime where it’s a fully realized character, and for merchandise where it can remain as a mute, cute ‘mon to look at.

New Pokémon’s Low Encounter Rates

Pokémon Sun & Moon have some of the lowest and most exclusive encounter rates and locations for any Pokémon games released so far – being as low as 1% and 10% in only one place in some cases. For hardcore players, such as most of the people reading this, these low encounter rates are a welcome challenge and make completing the Pokedéx a little more fun and worthwhile. But for a lot of casual, younger players, its very, very easy to make it through the whole game without encountering a lot of Pokémon in the wild – even if you put in the effort to go and look for them specifically. Even though the Pokedéx is specific to what patch of grass you can find them in, it does not specify some special conditions, the inclusion of SOS Battles and other new encounter methods – making it hard not to rely on third party Pokedéxes to catch ‘em all. I can’t be the only one who spent a good hour just trying to find a Mimikyu, right?

Protagonists Being Numb to Everything

Chock full of several twists and turns, Sun & Moon had one of the best plot lines in the 20 years of the franchise. Encountering Ultra Beasts, meeting characters from games past, dealing with the Aether Foundation; as the story progressed we were left with face cracks of the centuries with each step we took into Alola – so why didn’t our in-game avatar react the same way? With very, very few exceptions the protagonist had the same aloof smile while everything was happening – no matter how sad, how dire, and how intense the situation was – Despite other characters around us having plenty of emotion and proper reactions. And, honestly, it was hard at times to focus on what was happening and to take things seriously when we had such a goofy, empty smile all the while. With Gen VII giving the most personal customization yet, even down to being able to choose the style in which you throw your Pokéball, it comes as a shock that Game Freak didn’t give our protagonist the ability to react to situations accordingly. Yes, Pokémon is famous for having a silent protagonist, but Red’s emotionless reaction to everything reads a bit better than an empty smile.

The Poké Finder

Another feature hyped for during the pre-release of Sun & Moon, the Poke Finder was marketed as one of the new aspects that came with the Rotom Pokedéx, and much like the Rotom ‘Dex it failed to dazzle fans. What most hoped would be a love letter to Pokémon Snap, turned into a very shallow, rather useless feature of the game. With the Poke Finder only working in a select few, pre-determined spots, the Pokémon and their poses being limited and repetitive, and no way to share the photos with other players, this in-game feature seems pretty useless. The only reason we’re still even bothering with it is to get that stamp on our trainer passport – and believe us, we’re just as unhappy with the amount of time we need to pour into it just to get it. All things considered, the Poké Finder was another great idea, but a poorly executed one.

General Lack of 3D and Touch Screen Use

Despite being on the Nintendo 3DS, 3D was completely removed in-game other than when firing up the Poke Finder (ironically, paired with its gyroscope capabilities, it’s quite possibly the worst place to enable 3D). Although several complaints about 3D causing slow down during battles specifically arose in Generation VI, and it never truly being well implemented in previous generations overall; its surprising 3D wasn’t utilized during important cut scenes at the very least. And, honestly, it’s a bit disappointing that Game Freak didn’t try to improve upon it, and instead decided to just remove the feature all together. One of the coolest features the 3DS has to offer is the 3D slider being so accessible and easy to use – letting you decide whether or not you want to enable the 3D. Some people don’t like it, some do, but just having the option is nice. And on a somewhat related note, Sun & Moon is a game that can almost completely be played using the top screen. Rarely is the bottom screen used and completely necessary…but perhaps that was intentional? Despite being a gorgeous game that pushed the system to the limits, Game Freak didn’t make the best use of the two defining factors and selling points of the 3DS.

Removal of Amazing Features From Past Generations

Sun & Moon took several leaps and bounds forward, but in the process of adding new features and expanding upon older ones, it seems like we’ve taken a step backwards in some areas. Horde Battles, although not a huge loss, was a fun and new battle style that provided a new challenge as well as an easier way to manually EV train and hunt shinies: however once entering Alola we found it completely removed. Moreover, the convenience of the DexNav, the PSS and Super Training is completely null and void now. Gone are the days of being able to easily tell if you’ve caught all Pokémon in the area with one glance – now you have to search the Pokedéx entry by entry to see if you caught ‘em all. Gone are the days of centralized EV training with Super Training – now you have to use in game currency across several different platforms to make your ‘mons the best. And gone are the days of being able to battle, trade and connect with other players with a single touch in the PSS, now we have to traverse through the awkward and troublesome Festival Plaza. And although the end result of all these axed features are still available by other means, how we went from everything being so seamless and convenient to clunky and complicated is beyond us.

No Side Quest Tracker

Despite being a staple in most RPGs, our quest through Alola really marked the first time in Pokémon where several NPCs gave us little side quests that spawned rewards if completed. A lot of these quests were as simple as catching a Pokémon and showing it to the NPC, and the money reward was definitely worthwhile, but as we traversed through the story some quests were left incomplete for a number of reasons. Now well into the post game, I have a desire to complete all the in-game trades and Pokedéx quests, but with no formal tracker I’ve forgotten where all these NPCs are, and what the actual quest was – once again making us rely on third party information hubs to figure it all out.

 

Despite these faults, Pokémon Sun & Moon’s wondrous region, story, characters, Pokémon and new features seem to completely eclipse any negative thoughts we may have about the latest entry in the series. What are some things that you found you didn’t like about Pokémon Sun & Moon and hope to see in the rumored Pokémon Stars?

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4,195 thoughts on “Things We Didn’t Like About Sun & Moon”

  7. I’d just like to take this moment to thank Arceus for the hot springs that can hatch eggs in the pokepelago because now I don’t have a box of unneeded eggs that I’m too lazy to hatch and can’t release

    Reply

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  12. Everyone in the festival plaza sucks at inverse type matchups lmao. Like 75% of them can be answered with grass, fire, water, or electric.

    Reply

  14. So what is this stars thing I keep seeing? I’ve only heard/seen it on here?
    Anyways, on another note, I’ve missed a bit basically since the games game out. I’ve been on a few times but I’ve had a lot going on in my personal life. But I love seeing all the cool/creative shit y’all post and seeing how you guys are liking the games!

    Reply

      • Oh okay. Well I think the game needs it tbh. It had hands down the BEST story. Yet I feel like they focused so much on the story the didn’t out as much into the other parts. Idk. I loved the game but I got bored more easily than I did X/Y.

        Reply

        • When did you get bored… postgame I guess?

          I think with the Switch power, hordes, triples and rotation might return… and we really need a faster way to level post-game.

          Reply

          • Fair to be cautious, but given Eurogamers track record with Switch rumors lately I’d say it’s a shoo in lol

          • Gotta move onto the next console eventually. The idea of games staying on older systems just so people don’t have to buy new ones is a……well I don’t have any intention to be mean in anyway, but…..its a dumb idea. That kind of thinking keeps us in the dark ages. Otherwise we’d still be on the GBA. Time doesn’t stop for no one lol

          • I know, the 3DS is reaching its age, yet I feel as though there should be only one more Pokemon game on the system. And that would be it, then I would be more than happy to move to the Switch

          • I feel like part of the problem is that they started dong more than one generation on a system. Now that they’ve started that trend people have become incredibly reluctant to move onto better systems just because they think it’s ok for the games to stay more or less the same graphics wise and don’t want to spent the money. I have no problem with people wanting to have at least one more game on the current system of that time, but I need a good reason to even try and understand where they’re coming from. I see too many people saying that they don’t want “X” game to stay on the system THEY have simply due to them not wanting to spend the money. As if brand new systems with new games doesn’t happen all the time. Sorry…….*sigh*…I don’t mean to be a bummer. I just get tired of hearing the same excuses like that all the time. It’s not you it’s the idea in general. Hope it doesn’t feel like I’m attacking in anyway. More so I;m just venting hahaha

          • Tbh I don’t think graphics improvements are a reason to move to a newer system. Memory and processing allowing for more features is, but graphics isn’t.

            Moving to a new system is also hard from the developer perspective because it means they have to make sure the game engine is going to work on the new console.

          • Yes, but staying stagnant for the sake of staying stagnant isn’t a good reason to stay on the same system for the rest of eternity. I’d say that graphics are a huge reason for game developers to move onto a new system. The better the graphics the better the game can be. I know I know, the whole “graphics don’t make the game, the story does”. And while I agree in part, I also think that a game needs to look good as well as be good in story. A story can be the best thing ever, but if the game doesn’t function well and look good then it can very much ruin what otherwise would be a great experience. Game developers, like any other great artist/engineers/inventors/etc., are always looking for a better wa to show off their stories and skills. Unless there’s a god reason, moving onto meet the new markets needs are always a good thing. Complacency isn’t a good reason

          • I wouldn’t call the 3DS stagnant, I will still use it even if I do get a Switch.

            Graphics aren’t a compelling enough reason on their own. And tbh a game like Pokemon doesn’t really need top end graphics. The story doesn’t make the game either, the gameplay does. Graphics and story make a film, it’s the interactivity and the game mechanics that set games apart from films.

            You don’t necissarily need good graphics to have a good game. Mother 3 is perhaps one of the best examples. It has some absurdly designed monsters and it’s back in the era of sprites, but it’s still considered one of the best RPGs because of its story and mechanics.

          • Oh no you’re fine! I respect your opinion and I recognize your points as to why Pokemon should move onto the Switch. Although I would prefer for Pokemon to wrap up Gen 7 on the 3DS so they finished what they started, I think it’s time for a new era of systems for the franchise.

          • I get ya. I think the way they’ve been releasing the games is kind of why we’re in this weird point of game releases. The 3DS is getting on in years and they’re only just starting a new gen. It’s one of the many reasons I once thought gen 7 would be a single pair generation. Which is clearly not the case, but boundaries are meant to be broken it seems lol

          • For the same reason part of me thinks they should have waited and launched SM on the Switch. They could have done a reasonably priced launch bundle and the extra processing power might have let them do more.

          • I thought of the same way when I was anticipating the announcement for SM. Would’ve been the perfect time to introduce the Switch and games at the same time

          • Yeah, it would have made me more inclined to get one near release. I’m planning to get one for Breath Of The Wild, but if it weren’t for that I don’t know if Stars would be enough to convince me to get one.

            I never bought a Wii U because there weren’t enough interesting games to warrant buying it.

  17. The only things I agree with about this article are the removal of the Dex Nav (but even that didn’t bother me that much) and that Sun and Moon have a pretty amazing story

    Side note: I finished breeding my competitive team today! 😀 now I just have to EV train them and level them up

    Reply

  18. Tbh I liked the Rotom Dex when it was discussing what the main objective was, it’s just all the useless side comments and the way it talks.

    I liked the low encounter rates, it added challange. Though the fishing ones aren’t really challenges since anyone actually fishing for them will use the bubbling spots for the 10% encounter rate. The hardest are the weather and SOS encounters (Mareanie mainly, though I’ve still never seen a wild Castform).

    ‘Numb’ protoganists didn’t bother me much. Aside from anything else I’d expect the main character to be silent and barely react to anything because that’s how most game protoganists are. And Hau’s reactions made sense because he’s a bit clueless (e.g. he was actually surprised that Lillie and Gladion were Lusamine’s children).

    And the Pokefinder is a good feature, they just didn’t put enough into it. They needed to either give item rewards for high score photos or make the Pokemon that turn up vary by weekday to make it more interesting.

    Lack of 3D didn’t bother me much since I rarely used it anyway, but I agree it would have been nice to have it for cutscenes. The touchscreen was there, but nobody used it because most things you can do with the touchscreen can also be done using buttons and people default to using buttons.

    I don’t mind losing horde battles because SOS batles are also good, but I did enjoy them and it would be a shame to never see them again.
    PSS can hapily vanish for all I care. Though I’ll admit managing other players in the festival plaza is a pain. I’d love to just eject all my non-VIPs.
    Super Training… I miss the EV functionality but I detested the minigame so I’m fine with that being gone. It’s not a total loss because the EV-boosting Power items are still available and there’s EV boosting functionality in SOS battles (see http://www.serebii.net/sunmoon/sosbattle.shtml for details).
    The Dex Nav though, removing that was a sin to the entirety of the Pokemon franchise. That was the best utility feature they’ve had since the Poketch.
    Something that didn’t get mentioned that should have made a comeback: match call. I would love to be able to rebattle trainers for exp points and money and to potentially win items from them.

    A side quest tracker would be nice, though tbh Pokemon has so few sidequests I’m not sure if it’s really worth it. Aside from trades and ‘catch this Pokemon to show me’ there isn’t that much that counts as a side quest. There’s the zygarde cells I suppose, but you’d need their locations marked on your map so you know where you’ve already looked for that to actually be useful.

    Lastly: I didn’t think the story was that good tbh.

    Reply

  19. Surprisingly enough, I could tolerate the Rotom Dex. Sure, it repeats the thing that JUST happened recently, but I thought it was neat for a Pokedex to be a close navigator and buddy

    Reply

    • It spouts random things postgame though. Which is good.

      In the main game it’s like a Navi/other LoZ fairy but with the improvement of not pausing the game when it tells me what I need to do.

      Reply

        • To be honest Navi never really bothered me that much. For one thing you could ignore Navi and for another she actually did participate in the story.

          Plus if you removed Navi there would be points where you’d struggle to know what to do next because navi is the only one who tells you where to go.

          If anything all they needed was to tone it down a bit so that she only spoke when asked for advice.

          Not to mention back then that sort of feature was uncommon on games, so they probably wanted to remind players it was there.

          Reply

  21. Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !mj304d:
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  22. I think anyone who expected to catch a Rotom Dex form is a little silly, however, I did expect Rotom to be Wild.
    A National Dex would have been nice though, and more Old Pokemon Post game.

    Reply

    • I expected it to at least be wild as well. It would have been nice if those Rotoms where interchangeable with the one in the dex with different personalities based on their nature. Was a little bummed when I couldn’t take the little guy out.?

      Reply

    • No national dex is one of the most disappointing things.
      I had already caught about 70% of the dex by the post game so it’s only taken a few days to get to 99%.
      This was the easiest regional dex to complete in many generations.

      Reply

  23. While I love Sun and Moon and for all it’s worth hyping over for,I do admit that the games aren’t perfect.Here are my problems with the games
    – The amount of new pokemon.I know that it’s nice to mix up past pokemon with the new ones for variety,but the amount of new pokemon have been low lately.I wanna see more new pokemon than the last generation,at least a 100 new pokemon next time Game Freak
    – Lag issues,especially in Battle Royale and double battles
    – No more PSS.Festival Plaza makes it harder to find my friends and save them as VIP because there’s no guarantee that you’ll find the person in the plaza at the exact moment
    – No horde battles.Makes things harder to EV train pokemon

    Reply

    • I take it you’re aware of SOS chaining for EVs?

      “For competitive players,
      there’s yet another perk. As you progress through the chain, the Effort
      Points yielded from each Pokémon are multiplied by 2 which results in
      the Effort Values you receive getting increased. As such, with this, a
      Power Item and PokéRus, you can get 36 Effort Points from one Pokémon
      being defeated and max a stat out in 7 KOs in a chain.”

      Reply

        • I agree that it was a mistake to completely remove horde battles, but I don’t think SOS battles are particularly bad. And there are other ways to get EVs at least.

          Besides, horde battles probably would have lagged horribly. They should have made the models less detailed, XD and Colosseum never had lag issues with their double battles 😛

          Reply

  24. 1) Personally I hardly ever paid attention to the Rotom dex. It’s on the lower screen and when it’s talking there’s usually more important stuff happening on the upper screen. The idea of being able to catch the Rotom dex is beyond silly. It’s your Pokedex, how is it supposed to register itself and give info while being crammed in a Pokeball?

    2) Agree here, I often had to search quite a bit for the new pokemon (however I didn’t take longer than 10 mins to get Mimikyu..) But the bigger problem was the small number of new Pokemon. Come on GF, give us a large Gen again.

    3) Oh yes…the creepy stepford smiling no matter what happened…. Personally I don’t give a **** about how “stoic” and “silent” Red was. he was the protagonist of a primitive 90s game without a story and full of glitches. It’s 2016, let the protagonist emote.

    4) Eh didn’t really pay too much attention to the PokeFinder

    5) Don’t care about 3D, I never even use it on games that feature it.

    6) Yeah, some convenience was lost.

    7) That would be a very good idea, I agree.

    Reply

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