SPOILERS! Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon In-Game Discussion

Got the game today, still before the first trial
I am really surprised they let Inkay get Foul Play so early. Even if it uses the other pokemon's stat, that's still a really strong move to be flinging around
 

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
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Couldn't play a lot today cause of work, but I "finished Melemele" and right now just doing one last go around now that I have Tauros PokeRide.

Ultra Moon Playthrough Day 2:
1. So Ilima revealed there's now 8 trials. Course they could just be counting Mina's challenge now... though why would they count the ancient Dragon trial still?

2. Had first battle with Ultra Recon Squad. A bit or lore rewrite, instead of the Aether Foundation making the Beast Balls to capture Ultra Beasts now it was the Ultra Recon Squad who made the Beast Balls based on observing Poke Balls of the Pokemon World. Also hinted they're working with Lusamine as at one point, to access the trial grounds, they said they'll have to ask "the president" for that.

3. So Kala'e Bay has a bottled message on it asking to tell someone in Iki Town that their "big brother" is alright and is in a wondrous place. Now I knew the person in Iki Town who I needed to talk to since I talk with every NPC. I was surprised that turned out to be something since the person in Iki Town is an elderly woman who reminisced about how her older brother used to collect sand on the beach. Originally I thought if this went anywhere it would lead to a sad end involving Sandygast/Palossand, but apparently not. He mysteriously vanished and the message says he's in a wondrous place, hmm, wonder if Ultra Space got anything to do with this.
But that's not the only secret message I found. Later in the Pokemon School I found an old notebook shoved behind a deck/bookshelf which was about a girl who one day was taken home by a Hypno and on another taken home by a Drifloon (two Pokemon who shouldn't be taking anyone home). Now the old woman said if we find any other messages we should deliver them though not sure if she meant to her or who they're meant for. When I circle back to Iki Town I'll talk to her again to see if finding the notebook triggered anything.

4. Remember how you got a few of the Z-Crystals and no one was there to show you the pose needed to do the Z-Move? Well, at least for Flyinium Z they fixed that. Kahili doing the Flyinium Z pose in the trailers? When you get the Flyinium Z she just suddenly appears behind you, shows you the pose, and leaves. Now her name is "???" so I'm curious if anything about the scene would change if you had met her before getting it.
Still, makes me curious if they're going to do that with all the Z-Crystals. The only ones we didn't get a pose for was Flying, Bug, Steel, Psychic, Ice, Dragon, and Fairy. Now for Steel and Fairy that's an easy fix, you receive them from - and Mina they just don't show you the pose in SM so they'll just do so now in USUM. Flying they have Kahili randomly show up. But for the other's? Well they gotta use Ryuki for Dragon. Maybe Faba for Psychic, though would be odd for him to help the player after thwarting Aether Foundation's plans. Bug is tricky, I don't see Guzma doing it for the player until post game unless they have him do it after beating him in Po Town showing him gaining a bit of respect for the player. But then there's Ice who has no type specialist. That one should be interesting what they do.
 
So I found this to be particularly dark:


On a windy day, a trainer coincidentally saw Mimikyu's body beneath its rag. That night, he died in pain.
I went back to check previous Pokedex entries in Japanese, and it appears as though the Sun Pokedex entry is the same in Japanese and English, where a scholar died of shock. Just found it interesting and dark that in USUM, this someone, not necessarily a scholar, died later that day at night. Far darker IMO.
 
I would just like to add something to the Inkay comments about it being dead weight. There is a MASSIVE saving grace to the thing.

Topsy Turvy. You can use this on Totem Pokemon and reverse their boosts. This is INSANE and makes some of the harder fights a joke if your Inkay can stomach 1 turn.
 
So I was almost reaching the end of USUM (mine is US), so maybe it's time to say something that is probably unpopular (and might drag a lot of hate or sth) but whatever.

The storyboard is shit. Especially when compared to the original Sun.

- I don't think the authors really know what they are doing about Lusamine. On one hand, they are trying to tell us Lusamine is not bad and is trying to save the world instead of being an insane bitch like she once was, but they probably wanted to maintain a shade of black in her personality so they just kept the cryogenic pokemon status in her room and her abusive personality she had. While I do think having multiple faces of a person is a good idea, the execution is a mess at best and absolutely horrendous at worst. It feels as if it is a shoddy modding made by fans by hacking due to the lack of ability to remove stuff from the game, instead of being an actual recreation of the story.

Originally, it's like how Gladion mentioned "Sorry to drag you into our family drama (or what I can remember briefly)", the original Sun Moon is more like a family soap opera which might not necessarily a bad thing - the execution is more smooth and more logical, but now it feels like as if the storyboard writer is trying to stuff some world-saving elements into the story and end up creating something that is neither intriguing nor sensible.

- The story contains WAY too much recycled parts, you can almost feel that GF isn't paying too much attention to the game as they shifted too much focus on the battling mechanics. The whole story feels like as if they just recycled the whole SM game while changing the legendary encounter scene and added the Ultra Recon Squad, which......really doesn't contribute much, if at all, to the story element. It might actually be safe to say that their existence can be totally removed without impeding the story flow to unacceptable levels. Especially when you found out that all the dope-as-fuck trailer intros are from the same scene and nothing else changed much (if any), it feels almost like being cheated by GF.

- Ultra Recon Squad and the Ultra Megalopolis. Just what the absolute fuck why are they introduced in such manner? They did not contribute much to the story, doesn't interact with any of the members of either Team Skull nor Aether (other than Lusamine), they are almost just like random NPCs telling something that can easily be substituted by anyone in the main story, nor they really did anything noticable in game. The Megalopolis is being sold as an important part of the story, yet the only time you can get into there is when you are having your final showdown with Ultra Necrozma. While the showdown scene set in Ultra Megalopolis does look awesome, you cannot get a slice of life of people living in the light-devoured world and get to know how they feel about their devoid of light, nor know more about the environment they live in - in fact the only thing you can get to is the giant-ol-beam tower and the elevator lead to it.

- More about the URS, why do they even need Nebby and aid Aether, if they can summon fucking wormholes with their own fucking legendary beast of all things? Nebby struggles to actually summon a wormhole without dying, while they already got their hands on a Solgaleo/Lunala which will respond to their call and summon wormholes like a cakewalk. Now they do struggle in fighting against an out-of-control Necrozma and probably need to cooperate with Aether for some firepower against Necrozma, but none of which would lead them in the investigation of Nebby at all.

- Plotholes and problems left in SM doesn't get a very plausible fix. Let's say Silvally. Poor sod is a jossed idea in Sun Moon as a beast killer where it is supposed to be the line of defense against threatening Ultra Beasts, and has yet to get a major showoff in this game to show any of its traits as a beast killer. Big bad beasts are dropped from the sky, now this time we actually got more beasts facing the Kahunas......and that's pretty much it. No action other than that. Come on in the last game you got only Koko against UB02, now you still got nothing other than that this game after a whole year gap? Are you serious GF?

- How the fuck is Necrozma attracted to only your Z-crystals, when a lot of people that completed the trial also has a collection of most (if not all) Z-crystals anyway? If anything, they should make this more noticable/prominent (such as Necrozma fiercely attacking people using Z-moves and possess Z-crystals) instead of a game-boss that appears only at the climax of the game.

To be frank i am really disappointed about how they executed the story after they have a whole year time trying to fix it. Let's just hope Rainbow Rocket won't disappoint me.
 
If anyone is having trouble with the necrozma encounter (It will one shot a ton of teams) remember you can get toxic at aether paradise and zorua at the trainer school. get any fighting type for illusion and its smooth sailing from there.
 
I'm personally not up to that point yet, but I found this and am really glad they made it easier.


Apparently you can get it on your way to Acerola's trial (the abandoned Thrifty Megamart). Somewhere along the route you can surf and complete a mini-event. No more walking around with 6 Pickup Alolan Meowths!


EDIT: In case some of you don't check the news and official media discussion thread...

Pokémon Bank is now compatible for USUM. Pokémon Transporter is also available for Gold and Silver Virtual Console games.

Source: Serebii
 
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Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
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Ultra Moon Playthrough Day 3:
1. Got to play the Mantine Surf game today. In my opinion, best way to earn BP! After a few messed up runs I finally got a hang of it. I got enough BP to get Giga Drain for my Petilil... which I later boxed because I trained one in my Gen V games and caught a Fomantis which I wanted to train instead (trained a Bounsweet in my Moon so wanted to do Fomantis now). But anyway, it's really fun and I'll definielty try getting top scores in the post game, especially since there's someone in Heahea City which wants to see someone who did that. Challenge accepted.

2. Can't believe I didn't realize this until now! In both SM and USUM, Lillie goes to the Tide Song Hotel because she's waiting for someone special to her. Inside she said she missed meeting this person because she someone who looked like part of Team Skull and hid. It's not till now did I realize the joke here: she was going to meet up with Gladion, who's dressed up like a member of Team Skull; she hid from Gladion not realizing it was him. That's kind of funny.

3. Speaking of Tide Song Hotel, you can go up to the 3rd floor now via elevator. Some odd things up there: There was a secret meeting with a Bellossom and Comfey, Colress is there though he's just talking to himself, there's a guy who'll give you the Event exclusive Z-Crystals, and finally there's a side quest where you find an old person's friends (nothing really comes from it aside a Revival Herb, though one mentions being old friends of Hala so maybe something post game will happen. Also they reuse the joke of this old woman who looks like a young woman, this time because of Mareanie botox). Also apparently there's a side quest for the bellhop in front of the Tide Song Hotel where you have to show him a Magmar, we'll see where that leads.

4. Finally got enough Totem Stickers to get the Raticate. Then I found out their Natures aren't set. *Sigh*. I'll get my Totem Pokemon post game.

5. Got to Pikachu Valley and it's cute. Obviously you're suppose to bring one of your Ash Hat Pikachu there so post game. Though one odd thing there is that Pikachu trailer spawn an infinite amount of Pikachu if you try entering it. Unfortunate implications, ho! Curious if they'll have this location in the anime.

6. So they changed up Lana's trial in interesting ways. Lana doesn't try deceiving you, she straight up says she's the Captain and you start the Trial immediately. I actually preferred when she was "deceiving" you and lying about stuff (yet they keep the joke of her saying she caught a Red Gyarados at the end of the Trial, but without her trying to lie to you beforehand it just seems like a random thing). Also the twist of the Totem being an Araquanid was neat when it looked like it was going to be Wishiwashi again (though they did kind of reveal something was up as the "helpful trade" this time was a Noibat which wouldn't give you that much of an advantage against Wishiwashi).

7. So now I have the Lapras Surf and a fishing rod, when I get Charizard Fly it'll be time to backtrack...

8. So the Daycare give you an egg to hatch... and it turns out to be an Eevee. A Pokemon you can catch on Route 4. And there's nothing special about. Why?

9. Well, up to this point I was liking the changes they did to Rotom Dex with the occasional interactions and the Roto Loto. It felt less annoying... until now. When it asked if it could call me by a nickname I was like "sure, that's neat". Little did I know that after agreeing to that ROTOM DEX WOULDN'T SHUT UP! Every time I switch screens, when I come back to the over world it'll give me a gameplay tip. Why? Every now again, fine, something for it to say, but every time I switch screens?!
 
Just going to drop a few things regarding a few pokemon:

Starters-

You can REALLY tell that Gamefreak were aware of the hilarious imbalance between the starters in-game. Popplio was by far the best pick due to it getting powerful TM's early; being the first starter to get a Z-Crystal; and only three lines in the entire game [One of which being itself; so it would never face it...] resisting it's STAB combination; as well as Primarina simply having the best stat layout of the starters [Due to not trying to be mixed like Deducieye or Inceniroar; so it's BST isn't wasted in ATK]. *And* it's unique Z-Move has the highest BP of the three.

Firstly; TM Acrobatics and TM Scald are gone from the earlygame; the two absurdly powerful TM's Popplio had access to which just made it the best stater by miles.

Secondly; Flynium Z is obtainable MUCH earlier; as is TM Roost. Combine with an early tutor for Giga Drain and it seems the earlygame powerhouse of the trio is now Rowlet... although Rowlet also has the worst Trial matchups so these edges are more to compensate it. Although Rowlet has to be *really* careful in rival fights; since Popplio learns Icy Wind by level [Which completely breaks the starter Triangle and makes it a pyramid where Popplio beats both; and Litten beats Rowlet; at least until Decidueye shows up and removes the Quad ice weakness.].

Litten; on the other hand; seems pretty much unchanged. Double Kick access at lv 15 is... nice? Thankfully you can pick up Fire Pledge after Hala's trial still [And Popplio dosen't miss Scald *too* much due to Water Pledge]

Other Pokemon -

Inkay is a god earlygame due to Foul Play; especially in US where it can effortlessly handle Totem Gumshooes [Especially as the AI wull use stat lowering moves in either version; which buffs Inkay].

Hawlucha is absolutely absurd for the point of the game where it shows up. Especially with Supersonic Skystrike and Roost avaliable early as well. Note Hawlucha can function on literally every trial as well as every Grand Trial; even the ones that can hit it SE are usually able to be hit SE back [Except Mimikyu who still takes a walloping from Flying moves]. Seriously; Hawlucha is god-tier.

Magnemite is actually even better than in S/M due to a Shock Wave tutor; giving it a better Electric STAB than the unreliable Charge Beam.
 
Just going to drop a few things regarding a few pokemon:

Starters-

You can REALLY tell that Gamefreak were aware of the hilarious imbalance between the starters in-game. Popplio was by far the best pick due to it getting powerful TM's early; being the first starter to get a Z-Crystal; and only three lines in the entire game [One of which being itself; so it would never face it...] resisting it's STAB combination; as well as Primarina simply having the best stat layout of the starters [Due to not trying to be mixed like Deducieye or Inceniroar; so it's BST isn't wasted in ATK]. *And* it's unique Z-Move has the highest BP of the three.

Firstly; TM Acrobatics and TM Scald are gone from the earlygame; the two absurdly powerful TM's Popplio had access to which just made it the best stater by miles.

Secondly; Flynium Z is obtainable MUCH earlier; as is TM Roost. Combine with an early tutor for Giga Drain and it seems the earlygame powerhouse of the trio is now Rowlet... although Rowlet also has the worst Trial matchups so these edges are more to compensate it. Although Rowlet has to be *really* careful in rival fights; since Popplio learns Icy Wind by level [Which completely breaks the starter Triangle and makes it a pyramid where Popplio beats both; and Litten beats Rowlet; at least until Decidueye shows up and removes the Quad ice weakness.].

Litten; on the other hand; seems pretty much unchanged. Double Kick access at lv 15 is... nice? Thankfully you can pick up Fire Pledge after Hala's trial still [And Popplio dosen't miss Scald *too* much due to Water Pledge]

Other Pokemon -

Inkay is a god earlygame due to Foul Play; especially in US where it can effortlessly handle Totem Gumshooes [Especially as the AI wull use stat lowering moves in either version; which buffs Inkay].

Hawlucha is absolutely absurd for the point of the game where it shows up. Especially with Supersonic Skystrike and Roost avaliable early as well. Note Hawlucha can function on literally every trial as well as every Grand Trial; even the ones that can hit it SE are usually able to be hit SE back [Except Mimikyu who still takes a walloping from Flying moves]. Seriously; Hawlucha is god-tier.

Magnemite is actually even better than in S/M due to a Shock Wave tutor; giving it a better Electric STAB than the unreliable Charge Beam.
I still think Primarina line is still super OP as a starter despite their efforts in nerfing it (although it is more difficult to sweep teams with it because of the increased general difficulty), thing doesn't even need Scald to be OP. Even though bubble beam is much more weaker than the former, disarming voice is enough to deal with most things in the first island, and with Water Z thing is super good.
Hawlucha is might as well the best pokemon in the game this gen, hits like a truck (especially with Z), very fast and very easily accessible, especially the traded one which grows so fast it never falls out of play. It covers a lot of dark/steel/whatever and grass which makes it invaluable when teamed up with Primarina. Zorua is also pretty nice, although it falls short in the output category it synergies well with Hawlucha, fooling AIs for psychic attacks (which is incredible against any forms of Necrozma) and so on.
Other notable stuff such as Dusk doggo is also good due to the high attack power it has and access to stone edge making it incredibly useful for denting your boi's Golisopod (which I am very certain that it is buffed compared to SM), and also synergies well with Primarina with its fire fang.
 
Hawlucha and Primarina are clearly the powerhouse

Rowlet is hugely buffed by early Flynium Z, with his early Fly type, he owns Grass, Water-Bug trial, Rock trial (well only one Pokemon is weak to Grass type), Fighting Trial (and nothing change against Ground trial I guess, but I'm still at the end of the 3rd island)
 
I might be weird but I can't stop praising Malamar for this.

Not only Topsy Turvy is borderline broke for cheesing a *lot* of things, but with the amount of AI sets, expecially totems, that spam debuffs, Contrary gets a ton of procs. Combined with the excellent coverage of Foul Play > Night Slash, Psycho Cut and Superpower.

Obviously, it is sadly almost complete deadweight from level 20 or so to 39. Cannot deny that.
But still, Contrary and Topsy Turvy are just a godsent on this game.

Expecially to cheese Necrozma & Totem Ribombee.
 
Gameplay changes are nice. Greater Pokemon variety and altered locations (stuff like Murkrow and Misdrevous swapping locations) adds a lot more diversity and replay value to the games, Move Tutors are also great for Pokemon with bad movepools and encourage players to play Mantine Surf and Rotom Powers are a nice QoL change that helps alleviate a lot of inconveniences the game would otherwise have.

I've only done 2 trails so far and I find the game to be easier than SM. Totem Gumshoos was mostly a pushover and Totem Aranquanid was decently challenging, but nothing compared to Totem wishiwashi. My Pokemon are also overleveled, which never really happened in SM.

Most of the small visual changes to the overworld makes the game look much nicer. A visible beach connecting each island for example makes the game look and feel more tropical.

Story-wise, the game is mostly the same as Sun and Moon so far, though there are some changes. I like the Ultra Recon Squad, though I wish they used more Pokemon in the 2 fights I faced them in. Lana's trial also changed, but it feel more generic than it was in Sun and Moon. I like the twist at the end of it, however.
 
In Pikachu Valley, when you approach the camper and Pikachu exit, is there an end to this? Or do Pikachu just continue to exit and the guy beside the camper's counter continues to increase? Seen 107, for reference.
Someone went all the way to 999 and the guy's dialogue changed.


Welcome to Pikachu Valley! What can I do for you?
  • How many Pikachu now?
  • What's Pikachu Valley?
  • Bye

After selecting the first option...


Infinite Pikachu come out of the trailer!
Wait... Maybe this trailer is connected to Ultra Hall..?


Haha, no way!
 
Ok, the Ditto 5 were really cool.

And to those reading but not there yet, I won't spoil anything except to say CATCH THEM. YOU CAN FLEE AND RESTART THE BATTLES IF NEEDED.
 
Ok, the Ditto 5 were really cool.

And to those reading but not there yet, I won't spoil anything except to say CATCH THEM. YOU CAN FLEE AND RESTART THE BATTLES IF NEEDED.
Wait, is there a benefit to catching them? I was just going to transfer my Dittos from SM or chain again.
 
Wait, is there a benefit to catching them? I was just going to transfer my Dittos from SM or chain again.
As far as I've read, they are fixed to have 0 31 or 30 IVs. So, basically a breeding starter pack (tm), great also for breeding out Hidden powers and stuff.
 
To avoid making it too easy, I swap Pokémon out once they start leveling up too high from the game’s current NPCs. This has been fun since it’s made me use Pokémon I normally wouldn’t use and never really took the time to test out.

The momentum of the game suffers greatly from all the early handholding and cutscenes. Hopefully Gamefreak pays attention to the reviews to this game. You would think it being the 20th ANNIVERSARY of the franchise they would know this generation wasn’t going to be played by first-timers.

Alola is very beautiful but I can’t help but wonder how much better it would be if the mythicals had their own designated locations in game. Or at least were talked about by NPCs like in past games such as in Ilex Forest & Canalave City.

A moment of silence for New Moon Island, Flower Paradise, Birth Island, Navel Rock, Sinjoh Ruins, Hall of Origin, & Faraway Island.
 
To avoid making it too easy, I swap Pokémon out once they start leveling up too high from the game’s current NPCs. This has been fun since it’s made me use Pokémon I normally wouldn’t use and never really took the time to test out.

The momentum of the game suffers greatly from all the early handholding and cutscenes. Hopefully Gamefreak pays attention to the reviews to this game. You would think it being the 20th ANNIVERSARY of the franchise they would know this generation wasn’t going to be played by first-timers.
To be honest, the difficulty is pretty sizeable if you are using in-game caught pokemon and not transferring already 6x31, potentially EVd stuff, maybe without your OT so you ALSO get the bonus experience.
Remember most bosses, totems and basically the entirety of TRR in USUM also are 6x31 with EVs, while you are going to be running with potentially mediocre nature, mediocre moveset and mediocre IV Pokemon caught in game.

If anything I'd think the opposite, USUM looks particularly brutal on someone who isn't actually accustomed to planning teams carefully.
 
Necrozma with 60 LV, game-breaking BST and a stat boost is easily a team killer for anyone that doesn't have a dark type or fairy type.
 

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