1. Starting in your room, one of the changes from the trailers that got me curious was replacing of the Pikachu Doll with a signed portrait. Examining reveals what's that about: it's an autograph of a Kanto Gym Leader wishing the player "good luck". Doesn't say who the Kanto Gym Leader is, but still it makes me curious. Whoever our character is they idolize this Gym Leader enough to portrait their signature and wishing of good luck. Also it could maybe indicate the player may have known the Gym Leader, or at least maybe is from the city/town that Gym Leader is of. Could we maybe see this Gym Leader later on?
2. Speaking of mysterious role model, the tutorial notebook isn't the only thing we have of our dad's: apparently mom also took his car so she could drive to the city to run errands! Geez mom, it wasn't enough we moved across an entire ocean without him (not to mention the nearest city is only a jog away!).
3. So I gotta say the way we get our starter feels less ceremonial and special than in Sun & Moon. Where in Sun & Moon it was a small ritual where it was not only the trainer choosing the Starter but also the Starter accepting the trainer, the beginning steps of forming a long time bond, here we just did a Gen IV. We get attacked by a Pokemon, the Starters save us, and Kukui tells us to pick one and we do. No Starter having to accept us, all of them saving us apparently meant they all accepted us so we just skipped to which one the player wanted. Oh, but don't think it's any quicker getting the Starter, it's still smack dab in the middle of lengthy cutscenes. Thankfully I got a Popplio with a neutral nature.
4. So an interesting change for Hau, his mother is in Alola as after he gets his starter he rushes off to show her (though we have yet met her). I'm curious if they're setting up for a big reveal or they just decided to include Hau's mother who's a plain NPC.
5. Now that we have a Pokemon when going to save Nebby they had us battle a Spearow. I thought we were going to battle all three Spearow to change up the scene... but we only battle an additional fourth one which was kind of a let down. It felt pointless if they weren't going to change the scene.
6. The writers do know that a Lunar Eclipse is specifically when the Earth, Moon, and Sun line up in a way that the Sun is casting the Earth's shadow onto the Moon, right? It's not storm clouds blocking the moon. But if they mean for it to be a Lunar Eclipses, those just don't happen out of the blue. At the very least it's not a good omen like Kukui tried to write it off as. Was he trying to keep Lillie and the player calm or was he really just shrugging off a celestial event that shouldn't be happening?
7. Alola Youngster Joey now uses an Alolan Grimer...
8. Ilima, if you're just putting the Totem Stickers up in public places you don't really have the right to complain about Team Skull taking them. Sure, they're intended for Trial Goers, but if you're putting them out in public anyone can take them even if they can't use them. How about instead of leaving it to the honor system why not go to the local businesses and services and ask them to give them the stickers out to Trial Goers who ask for them/they decide deserve to be awarded a sticker.
9. A neat little detail, while all the normal trainers have a new battle theme, the Captains instead use the old Sun & Moon trainer battle theme.
10. They added a child swing set next to the house of the abusive father who son beat them up (not revealing who the son is as that's technically a spoiler, but those who played SM know who I'm talking about).
11. So, like with any early game, my team is constantly changing. Like until reaching Big Wave Beach my Melemele team was Popplio, Butterfree, Furfrou, Alolan Grimer, Trumbeak, & Own Tempo Rockruff. However upon getting a Zubat at Big Wave Beach I changed it to Popplio, Butterfree, Furfrou, Own Temp Rockruff, Zubat, and Zorua. Odd choice I know, but I decided to not choose the same Pokemon I used for my Moon playthrough which has resulted in some odd choices. But this is just Melemele, I'll see what the other islands bring. Though it's kind of odd how Melemele offers a batch of Water-types yet there's no Grass- or Fire-types.
12. While Yungoos is still present in places, so far I'm liking the distribution of Pokemon. Either they heard our complaints and removed all the Yungoos and Wingull or they added in so many other Pokemon it sort of saturates them to a non-issue. I was surprised to see Zorua and Furfrou available early on, always wanted to use them and, at least for now, is my chance. Haven't really used Zorua much yet, but I certainly got a lot from Furfrou who's surprisingly a beast being able to both absorb damage and dish it out (early Headbutt destroys).
13. Now that I don't have a money making Munchlax in my party I'm beginning to feel a bit of a money crunch.