SPOILERS! Sun and Moon In game experience thread

Well, I just finished the game. I went all the way with my challenge run even after the difficulty proved to be a bit higher than expected, and I'm happy to have seen it through in spite of the many roadbumps along the way.

My challenge rules: set battle style, no items in trainer or totem battles, no pokemon with more than 400 BST, no pokemon with any single stat above base 100, no Z-move usage, no XP share, no pokemon refresh and no back-tracking to pokemon centers or healer NPC's until I've completely finished an area (keep going until you wipe).

Needless to say, I wiped a lot along the way and had a blast doing it. I loved every bit of the challenge of winning with so many odds stacked against me. I did relent on the XP share to alleviate some grind issues, but overall I'm pleased to have seen it through to the end. I've done similar challenge runs before, but this is by far the most extreme I've done blind and I'm glad I did it.

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Breeze (Butterfree) @ Leftovers level 61
Compound Eyes
Mild Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Sleep Powder
- Air Slash
- Bug Buzz

The MVP of my run in every possible way. Breeze was responsible for catching every other team member with Sleep Powder. I can't even count the number of times Breeze pulled the rest of the party out of the fire, and it was responsible for winning many major story battles. Appropriately Breeze was the pokemon on the field when I won the final battle. Breeze is the only permanent party member with an imperfect nature, due to the fact that I was catching him at the very start of the game and I wanted to get started and took the first half-decent nature the game gave me. Breeze played a major role in most of the trials, being the star player in the normal and water trials, landing the finishing blow with Psybeam against the paralyzed fire totem pokemon, and leveraging his x4 grass resistance in the grass trial. Appropriately Breeze was my last standing pokemon in the final battle, with nothing but Sleep Powder to protect him from super-effective electric attacks as he made one last push for the crown.

Overall Butterfree is a top notch pokemon that has a lot of utility and a lot of favorable battles in Sun and Moon, and I'd recommend this pokemon even for non-challenge playthroughs.

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Zapper (Pikachu) @ Light Ball level 60
Static
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot
- Charm

Zapper was fairly weak for most of the game, so I eventually cracked and put a Light Ball on him even though I was weary about it violating the spirit of my challenge run. I only got the Light Ball just before the final Gladion battle. In any case, once he had his Light Ball this guy went from being the team's weakest member to being second-strongest after Breeze and put in a huge amount of work from that point onwards. Charm was originally a temporary filler move, but I found it so useful for debuffing totem pokemon and even trainer pokemon (since trainers almost never switch) that I never removed it. Zapper played a key role in the Water and Fire trials, in particular landing paralysis to the fire totem pokemon to enable Breeze to deliver the winning Psybeam.

The nickname actually is a highly nostalgic one, the same one I gave to my Raichu in my very first playthrough of Blue version many long years ago.

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Chip (Krokorok) @ Everstone level 60
Moxie
Jolly Nature
- Bulldoze
- Earthquake
- Crunch
- Stone Edge

Chip was added to the team specifically to counter-team Hau's Raichu, which otherwise picks apart my other team members with impunity. Didn't quite work out the way I expected, but still an invaluable teammate. Chip offers the team a much needed immunity to Psychic and Electric as well as a Dark and Rock resist. Moxie was also incredibly helpful and let him deal excessive damage in many battles before going down. Bulldoze was run for two reasons; first it was a debuffing option to allow Chip to reduce the speed of a fast threat he couldn't beat with EQ but could be revenged by another teammate, and second as extra PP because Earthquake always runs out at inopportune moments. Chip did not contribute to any totem battles, having joined the team much to late and the final totem fight being another mon's time to shine. However, he was one of the top performers in the end-game.

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Shimmer (Clefairy) @ Eviolite level 60
Magic Guard
Modest Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonlight
- Psychic
- Moonblast

I've wanted to use Clefable in story-mode ever since it got its new typing, but since it's not available legimately until post-game in XY and ORAS this opportunity never really came up, so it was on my short-list for Moon version. Due to my challenge rules I simply ran it as a Clefairy. With eviolite-boosted bulk this thing could tank hits that other party members couldn't dream of taking, and with Calm Mind and Moonlight it could set up and win against special attackers. It struggled for most of the game due to the lack of a STAB move, but once it got Moonblast everything came together easily. I chose to run Psychic because quite a few recurring trainers run Poison-types while steel-types are rather rare in SuMo. Shimmer dominated the 7th trial, OHKO'ing the totem pokemon with a +1 Moonblast.

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Burst (Growlithe) @ Charcoal level 58
Intimidate
Adamant Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Wild Charge
- Crunch
- Reversal

Early-game Burst put in a huge amount of work, with Intimidate-boosted bulk allowing it to beat enemies that the rest of the team couldn't handle prior to obtaining Eviolite. Its bulk was practically perfect for activating Reversal, letting it turn around difficult fights. Towards the end of the game it fell behind XP wise not due to lack of use, but due to frequently KO'ing himself with Flare Blitz and not getting XP for his own victories. However, the power of Flare Blitz was absolutely necessary; I named Burst for a reason, I knew I would need something capable of just delivering a ludicrously hard-hitting attack. Why not have that ace in the hole be my favorite pokemon's pre-evolution? To the very end Burst was the team's powerhouse to break through the toughest enemies, even if he went down doing it. Burst contributed heavily to the normal and grass trials, and was the primary in the electric and ghost trials. Burst has a perfect Defense IV.

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Sunshine (Staryu) @ Mystic Water level 56
Natural Cure
Timid Nature
- Scald
- Power Gem
- Psychic
- Thunder Wave

Sunshine was always an iffy choice. I didn't purposefully seek out a Staryu, but just happened to luck into a Timid one by sheer chance. I had a free team slot and the Scald TM, so he tagged along... and tagged along... and wait, are we at the Hall of Fame? You still here Sunshine? Well, welcome to the Hall of Fame, I guess. Sunshine was the weakest team member due to his pathetic bulk and power and middling speed that often left him unable to contribute any more than a bit of status of chip damage. Towards the end of the game he mostly just got sacked so another teammate could switch in for free, and I was seriously considering suspending my end-game run to replace him due to how useless he was. I won before it got to that point, so Sunshine ends up on the Hall of Fame team.

Past Team Members

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Breaker (Pancham) level 37
Mold Breaker
Adamant Nature
- Brick Break
- Swords Dance
- Bulldoze
- Stone Edge

Specifically brought to the party to handle Nanu, whose team was utterly demolishing mine, Breaker's sole purpose in life was to deliver two +2 Mold Breaker Brick Break and live to do it. Once the Eviolite got pulled off, though he just didn't have the bulk or speed to contribute. In the following story arc he quickly fell behind the rest of the party since the XP share was off, and he was ultimately swapped out for Chip.

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Zip (Crobat) level 27
Inner Focus
Quirky Nature
- Acrobatics
- Leech Life
- Cross Poison
- Roost

Zip the Zubat was always intended as a stop-gap team member that I kept around just because I like the Zubat line and I didn't want to put a TM as awesome as Acrobatics to waste. I knew his retirement was approaching after the Grass trial, with a Rock-type Kahuna coming up and my team being way too weak to Rock, so I allowed him to fully evolve before perma-boxing. I took him out for a quick spin before returning to my regularly schedule challenge run, and he just blew everything else at this point in the game out of the water. Crobat's always been an awesome pokemon held back by a poor movepool, but SuMo gives him everything he needs with early access to Roost and Acrobatics and a massive buff to Leech Life to make it a great move. I will definitely be taking one the full way through the game in my second playthrough!

Sniggle (Rowlet) level 11
Overgrow
Adamant
- Tackle
- Leafage
- Astonish
- Peck

I knew my starter was getting retired early due to my challenge rules. By the time I had an Everstone to make it non-annoying to keep in my team it was just too underleveled. Really lucked out on that nature, so it was a shame that he ended up getting boxed.

I'm actually a bit hesitant to evolve them after coming this far without doing so. I may do some of the post-game before using my evolutionary stones and powering up my team to their full potential. With all that said, I'd say this is probably my favorite pokemon game to date and I'm already itching for a second playthrough even before I've touched the post-game.
 
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Played with the Exp. Share off hoping for a challenge (I heard the game was easy) and got it. I didn't use online resources to determine movepools or base stats. I also managed to avoid story spoilers, and feel grateful I did. My team ended up with levels ranging from 48-50.

Shocktarts (Electabuzz)
-Wild Charge
-Thunderbolt
-Low Kick
-Light Screen

Electabuzz provided invaluable team support upon capture. Light Screen and Thunder Wave really simplified tough situations for me. I wonder how Electivire would've fared, though...

Smith (Metagross)
-Bullet Punch
-Hammer Arm
-Meteor Mash
-Zen Headbutt

Metagross didn't fare as well as I hoped thanks to Dark type's abundance in this game. I wasn't overly impressed, and probably won't use him on the next playthrough.

Veruca (Whiscash)
-Scald
-Earthquake
-Rock Tomb
-Amnesia

Barboach really did wonders for me thanks to early Scald access. This Mon was the glue for my team; Scald burning and Amnesia let it tank hits and eventually plow through opposition. Not to mention how much my teammates appreciated the burns it caused. Was very happy with it overall, and was probably my second most useful Mon.

DoubleSundae (Vanilluxe)
-Flash Cannon
-Acid Armor
-Ice Beam
-Freeze Dry

I had an extra slot by the end of the game, so I decided to try Vanilluxe out. I didn't really use him, but it did do surprisingly well against one of the final trainers. I would rather pick up a different Mon earlier, however.

Mad Catz (Incineroar)
-Focus Blast
-Will-o-Wisp
-Flamethrower
-Snarl

Don't laugh, Snarl really help me beat key threats thanks to the secondary effect. He was decent throughout the game, though his level up movepool left much to be desired. He was Modest by the way, hence the special movepool.

Hug Me (Mimikyu)
-Shadow Claw
-Mimic
-Play Rough
-Will-o-Wisp

I have no doubt that Mimikyu was the standout of my playthrough. Disguise was my saving grace against many of the stronger opponents; it would guarantee an important hit or a necessary Charm/Will-o-Wisp. Mimic let me beat things that it normally shouldn't, which was neat. Shadow Sneak was incredibly useful when I had it. It packed a decent amount of power with it's Ghost, Dark and eventual Fairy coverage. This Mon is probably the most significant reason I survived the mid and late game, and take on the final part of the game, despite being underleveled. A+ Mon, would Mon every subsequent playthrough

MVP: Mimikyu
Greatest Disappointment: Metagross, Kadabra (no moves 'till 21? Lame)
Mon I'm looking forward to using most next playthrough: Minior
 
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Prof. Almeida said:
Come to the Battle Tree, they said.
It'll be fun, they said...

You'll be eaten alive before reaching it, nobody said...
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That said, I would suggest first getting to the Battle Tree once you start the post game. I know a certain post game mission looks very tempting to do, but if you try to do all of it in one shot you'll get your Pokemon's behind kicked. Go to the Battle Tree, level them up by battling all trainers and even wild encounters you get along the way, then do the post game mission. You'll have a much easier time.
I got wrecked by Nanu on the final Looker mission. We were equal level but his team was very well constructed. His Krookodile in particular began KOing my team. But after going to the Battle Tree I was able to get an edge back.

1. On the final Looker mission we get an exposition dump. The final UB, Guzzlord, had appeared in Alola about 10 years ago. Looker and two other International Police agents were sent to deal with it, but hesitation on Looker's part resulted in one of the agents dying. Except it was planned.
Nanu comes in and says the agent was bait from the start, something Looker did suspect. Basically there are people called "Fallers" who are people who traveled through Ultra Wormholes. These people get bathed in the energy of Ultra Space which UBs detect and are attracted to, thinking its a wormhole to get home. Anabel is revealed to be a Faller, years ago having been discovered by the International Police washed up on a shore with no memory except a few details of being the Hoenn Frontier Brain of Battle Tower. Nanu suspects the International Police are using Anabel as bait like with the killed agent 1 years ago, thus why she was promoted so fast, though Looker says she agreed to go on this mission knowing this. Still Looker doesn't want another agent to die so got back up: the player. The player too is a Faller and is a powerful trainer so Looker knew we'd be able to get the job done. After that Nanu decides to battle you for no reason (I'm not kidding, he pretty much says it's for no reason. Yes you must win to continue the missions) and after that you get Guzzlord (and paid 1 million dollars for your services! Hey, where was this money for the player in Platinum, BW, and XY?).

2. So thoughts on the Looker Missions, pretty neat though not as good as the one in XY. Oh sure, these Looker Mission gives you the Ultra Beasts though storywise it doesn't have the emotional impact as XY's did. I thought Anabel might become an emotional anchor but even with revealing info she was a Faller and she was getting progressively more tired that didn't go anywhere so there was no worries about her safety. For the last mission Looker sends her to a decoy location so she would be away from the UB, but since they said UBs can track Fallers I thought the plan would backfire, the UB would chase after Anabel, and we'd come in the nick of time to save her. But nope, Anabel was never in any danger and we dealt with the UB at the planned location. I like the interaction between Looker, Anabel, and Nanu when he decides to show up. Though Anabel is Looker's superior and they have a professional relationship, I still can't help but see Looker had a bit of a fatherly personality at times when it came to Anabel's safety. Could be me reading too much into it and he's just worried about a fellow agent, though I would like to think Emma had a lasting effect on him.
But back to the revelations made, specifically about the Fallers. So obviously if the player is a Faller that means Lillie, Lusamine, and Guzma are too, though that doesn't really play much into things. What does is Anabel's backstory, those who played ORAS will notice it sounds a lot like Looker's. And since the Battle Tower hasn't been constructed yet in ORAS... could it be this Anabel is from the non-Mega Timeline, being the Anabel from Emerald? If so, does that also mean Looker is the same Looker for Platinum & Black/White (and also mean he's a Faller)? Not sure what this could mean, its rather odd since it's not like they did this just to have characters from older games appear as Burnet, Colress, Grimsley, Cynthia, Wally, Red, Blue, and who knows who else are in the game yet they seem to be natives of this timeline.
Another interesting tidbit is we learn some sort of agent id number for Looker and Nanu. Looker is 100kr (get it? I wonder what his id number is in the Japanese version where his codename is "Handsome") and Nanu is 000 (so is Nanu one of the first agents?).

3. So apparently Gladion is now in charge of Aether Foundation (yet is still wearing his Team Skull enforcer clothes). As for Faba, he's been demoted saying he turned over a new leaf (though you can tell he's salty about the whole thing, especially about now being ordered around by a kid). Gladion also gives you one of the extra Type: Nulls mentioned in the UBK files and all the Memory disks (and gives you the backstory about his father studying wormholes, going missing, and Lusamine obsession probably stemming from trying to find him).
Also listened to what Wicke had to say about the UBs, nothing that new but adds some more to what we knew. Nihilego's neurotoxin makes you act on your desires, Pheromosa's uses an unknown thing like pheromones to attract those to it, and Xurkitree wire-like body easily conducts electricity and plant itself into the ground like a tree when low on energy. Can't recall anything for Celesteela or Guzzlord the dex doesn't say. I'm curious what the entries for Buzzwole and Kartana say, I have both of them but Wicke doesn't get entries for them.

4. So Plumeria is on Route 13 post game but she doesn't do/say much (though now that I defeated Guzma in the post game I wonder if she does now). Guzma is back at his parents house on Route 2 (and now knowing that's his home you get a bit of a picture of what Guzma's childhood was like... potential as a powerful trainer with a possible hint of child abuse?) and he challenges you to a battle at the beach. After the battle Hala then appears and revealed Guzma was actually his former pupil, Guzma referring to him as "Master", and Hala tells Guzma until he respects the other trainer's strength he won't be able to become stronger. However Hala hasn't given up on Guzma, telling the player he'll eventually get through to Guzma, infact the player might have helped as Guzma deeply wants to defeat the player (hence at least acknowledging the player's strength) and Guzma gives the player a Dawn Stone, the first item he ever won (says its not an apology, but isn't clear why he's doing it so it sort of is. He's also looking forward to battling the player again). So in the end it doesn't look all bad for Team Skull members, at least Plumeria and Guzma. Also if you go back to Po City the two grunts in the Pokemon Center will sell you a Skull Shirt for 10k and leave.

5. I'm pretty much doing clean-up now. Got all the Plates, tomorrow will get the remaining Zygarde Cells and TMs I don't have, and then go after the Legendaries. I also have the remaining Z-Crystals, Hat Pikachu, Gester poses, and PokeFinder spots. After that I'll start filling my dex and going around Alola once more to see what changed/what I forgot.
 
Pikachu315111 said:
That said, I would suggest first getting to the Battle Tree once you start the post game. I know a certain post game mission looks very tempting to do, but if you try to do all of it in one shot you'll get your Pokemon's behind kicked. Go to the Battle Tree, level them up by battling all trainers and even wild encounters you get along the way, then do the post game mission. You'll have a much easier time.
I got wrecked by Nanu on the final Looker mission. We were equal level but his team was very well constructed. His Krookodile in particular began KOing my team. But after going to the Battle Tree I was able to get an edge back.
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Lol I was just about to post about how hard Nanu was... Got rekt by Krookodile, just like you. Though my team is EXTREMELY underleveled. Lv. 56 Deciduye is my highest level. My strategy to beat him will be to buy some X Special Defenses or whatever they're called and use them on Ribombee (lv. 52, my lowest) so that it can set up Quiver Dance to sweep with Dazzling Gleam.

Catching all 4 Kartana was really annoying though. They just kept outspeeding my entire team, one of them even wiped me. I relied on my Pokemon avoiding moves and living with 1 hp due to affection. I was really tempted to use my Focus Sash though lol.

If I can't beat Nanu, I'll take your advice and go to the Battle Tree.
Finished the game yesterday. I must be stupid, since I didn't suspect ANYTHING about the Aether Foundation... I agree with everyone else here, super amazing game, although I probably won't play though it again.

Almost all members of my team were super useful at one point. I can't believe that my Decidueye was only level 54, AFTER I beat the Champion. I didn't wipe to any of the major story battles at the end of the game which also surprises me lol. I'm really happy that you only need to finish the Regional Pokedex to get the Shiny Charm!
 
Pokemon Moon was absolutely a blast to play through, and I am really, really looking forward to being able to transfer my ORAS/XY Pokemon to Moon (This seems relevant once again. I can't stand breeding or doing the Tree without things like my precious 6IV ditto or my EV trained mons)
Other thoughts:
My team formation was haphazard. I took Rowlet because I didn't like Popplio or the evolution path, and while I really liked Litten I hated its evos, and I somewhat liked Rowlet but loved its evos, so that's what I went with. For the first....bit, I just had whatever I had caught with me to back up Rowlet (in the first Hau fight Caterpie did some real work with String Shot and letting Rowlet switch out and reset the Attack decrease from Charm), and then I found a Magnemite. For whatever reason I immediately decided it would be on my team (Didn't know I liked Magnemite that much honestly), and it put in some serious work through the rest of the game, even if Magnezone came late. Eviolite came fairly early and Eviolite Magneton was able to dish out some serious hurt, and it had a great typing for most of the game (Just keep it away from the seemingly omnipresent Diglett line, and the ground type trainers). I found a Fomantis, and decided it was too adorable to pass up. This was a mistake. Fomantis wasn't powerful in and of itself, and Bug/Grass is a terrible, terrible typing. Even when it evolved, and got fancy toys like X-Scissor and Leaf Blade/Petal Blizzard, it was very, very frail, and slow to boot, so it always ended up feeling like the worst member of the team.

I picked up a Magikarp reluctantly, because I wanted to use more Alolan mons/forms, but I really needed a water type and didn't want a Wishiwashi. I had like, 4 Rare Candies saved up (seriously they gave those out left and right), and with EXP Share on I was able to evolve it really fast. Gyarados, of course, was really, really good, and with a water-type Z move under its belt it could handle almost anything. Having no flying STAB (Because Hurricane comes late and is off of Special and I didn't wanted to get rid of Dragon Dance or Crunch or Ice Fang for special move...) was kinda bad, but I didn't really miss it much. Crunch was serviceable, and put in some badly needed coverage, and Ice Fang was...well it was a niche move, but Aqua Tail was nice (Although it misses way more than I would prefer, but whatever). The other member of my team for most of the game was Cubone, because I've always had a soft spot for Marowak and I really like Alolan Marowak. I, of course, got it a Thick Club ASAP (Shoutouts to Compound Eyes Thief Butterfree), and even if for a while its only stab was Flame Charge that didn't really even matter. Bonemerang hit incredibly hard, Brutal Swing was ok I guess, and Flame Charge at least patched up speed. Got a few sweeps off of Flame Charge and SD boosts, so that was nice. Got a real powerup at the Move Reminder too - Flare Blitz and Shadow Bone. Mmmmm. I had Lightningrod instead of Rock Head, but I don't...really regret the trade. Lightningrod is an excellent ability (if only it boosted Atk not SpA), and I didn't even have Flare Blitz for most of the game. Thick Club and a decent Atk stat meant that Flare Blitz or Bonemerang more often than not one-shotted most things.

Last member of the team was really a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. I was leaving a spot open in vague hopes of a Type:Null, but it was not to be, and I eventually just picked up Lunala because it was the end of the game and I wanted a 6th team member. Turns out I would need it...

I should mentioned I kept the EXP Share on until I was like level 40 for all my mons and I realized I was 10 levels above the curve and 1-shotting everything wasn't very fun. After turning that off I got back onto the curve surprisingly quickly, and actually turned it back on just before the League.
The E4 level jump caught me off guard. I was fairly underleveled compared to them, and the battles were actually pretty tense, even with Lunala. Its ability is the only thing that kept it alive, it seemed like everything carried Crunch. Kukui was a terrifying fight; Lycanroc wasn't too bad (I mean, 2 grass types and a water type? No big deal), and Gyarados tore apart his Incineroar. I had to look up most of the rest of his team - Alolan Ninetales, Braviary, and Magnezone were pretty easily taken care of (My Magnezone or Alolan Marowak probably handled them). His Snorlax though...That thing was BRUTAL. It took out my Marowak, as well as Lunala, and I think maybe one or two others. Any time in the postgame I saw a Snorlax I started to get worried.

Rest of the postgame was pretty simple. The level curve made for some intense battles, even if I did use items. I got myself a Naive Pheromosa (Looking forward to EV and Hyper training and using this thing) after some SRing, and the rest of the UB missions were pretty simple. I caught the Tapus, and that's pretty much it until I get my old mons because I don't want to bother with Battle Royale or the Battle Tree without some EV trained good IV mons, and I don't want to bother with that until I have my old, familiar tools at my disposal.
One of the most standout moments of the game to me was when I realized they were giving us APRICORN POKEBALLS. FINALLY!!! As someone who has done quite a bit of breeding for Pokeballs as well as IVs, this was a welcome thing to me, as previously Apricorn Pokeballs were limited to a handful of pokemon, and between this and letting male pokemon pass down pokeballs when breeding with ditto, we're making serious headway. Previously if you had a male with an HA and a female with a good Pokeball you had to choose one or the other, and now it's...less bad, at least? Males can pass down a good pokeball and an HA via ditto, now we just need an item that'll force males to pass down an HA or Pokeball when breeding with other members of its species (I mean you're missing out on Destiny Knot or a Power item or Everstone or W/E so it's not gonna be gamebreaking or anything if that's introduced, would just add an extra step to breeding for cosmetics). Anyway, I'm rambling, game was amazing, end of story.
 
I am dissapointed in myself. I finished the main story of Sun in 6 days. Two months ago I got Y and finished that in two weeks. I wish I had been able to let the game last longer, and that pokemon games in general had a longer main story. I know there are people who beat it a week before the game was supposed to come out. I just remeber years ago I played twilight princess and I took my time with the game and I felt this sense of amazement when going through Ganondorf's castle and I wish portable games could maybe just have a bit more. But I like that Sun and Moon atleast HAS a post game. So to get back on track, how fast did you beat sun and moon. No post game spoilers please.
 
OmegaRoarOfTime said:
I am dissapointed in myself. I finished the main story of Sun in 6 days. Two months ago I got Y and finished that in two weeks. I wish I had been able to let the game last longer, and that pokemon games in general had a longer main story. I know there are people who beat it a week before the game was supposed to come out. I just remeber years ago I played twilight princess and I took my time with the game and I felt this sense of amazement when going through Ganondorf's castle and I wish portable games could maybe just have a bit more. But I like that Sun and Moon atleast HAS a post game. So to get back on track, how fast did you beat sun and moon. No post game spoilers please.
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Moved to the dedicated Sun and Moon forum - it's there for a reason - and merged with the Sun and Moon Experiences thread, which serves this exact purpose already.
 
I had a really interesting experience with

Basically, my team was really unbalanced (since it was a casual in-game run of Moon, I only collected new Pokemon I liked, which led to a very unbalanced team.) Kukui was down to his last Pokemon, Braviary, and I was down to my last, Lunala, after a Revive spam session. I kept spamming Hyper Potions on Lunala to keep Shadow Shield up so it wouldn't get crit-KOed by Braviary's Brave Bird and had no choice but to let Braviary die from recoil....from full health.
 
I'm really enjoying how if you have Lynala at the front of your team, the comments that get made about it at the E4 (especially if you choose "it looks tough" or whatever) sound like they're mocking you for using it.

Also, I'm wondering if the Ultra Beasts are design themed around the seven deadly sins, with lust and gluttony being such obvious associations.
 
Rarycaris said:
I'm really enjoying how if you have Lynala at the front of your team, the comments that get made about it at the E4 (especially if you choose "it looks tough" or whatever) sound like they're mocking you for using it.

Also, I'm wondering if the Ultra Beasts are design themed around the seven deadly sins, with lust and gluttony being such obvious associations.
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this will probably keep coming up forever but i think people are being blinded by there being 7 of them and 2 of them being pretty direct connections.
The rest of the connections are extremely thin, if there at all.
 
My new favorite detail of the game: Incineroar's signature move is Malicious Moonsault, yet the attack itself is a top-rope splash (or a Diving Body Press, if you're a fan of Japanese wrestling) and not a moonsault. Game Freak are not wrestling savants, clearly.

The game so far has a weird way of throwing things I'm genuinely interested in at just the right times to keep my excitement level up. Level grinding starting to seem like a chore? Look, you can catch Gastly now! The story getting a bit dry? Oh, Royal Avenue's right around the corner! Certain locations being a bit of a boring trudge? Hold up, I just got all of the weather rocks! It's not intentional, but the pacing to this point has been spot on.
 
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Smuckem said:
My new favorite detail of the game: Incineroar's signature move is Malicious Moonsault, yet the attack itself is a top-rope splash (or a Diving Body Press, if you're a fan of Japanese wrestling) and not a moonsault. Game Freak are not wrestling savants, clearly.

The game so far has a weird of throwing things I'm genuinely interested in at just the right times to keep my excitement level up. Level grinding starting to seem like a chore? Look, you can catch Gastly now! The story getting a bit dry? Oh, Royal Avenue's right around the corner! Certain locations being a bit of a boring trudge? Hold up, I just got all of the weather rocks! It's not intentional, but the pacing to this point has been spot on.
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i am pretty sure that is basic game design so it uh

probably is intentional
 
R_N said:
i am pretty sure that is basic game design so it uh

probably is intentional
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If that's true, then GF missed the mark in establishing that pace for me with Gen IV, BW, and ORAS (B2W2 & XY felt like they moved at faster paces, so I was cool with those too).
 
Smuckem said:
If that's true, then GF missed the mark in establishing that pace for me with Gen IV, BW, and ORAS (B2W2 & XY felt like they moved at faster paces, so I was cool with those too).
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well i guess it will vary person to person in how much certain things hit but the stuff you described is in like all of those
 
I've lost 6 times already :0 this is frankly shocking since I haven't lost to an in game trainer since... Platinum, I think. I started the game thinking "Jesus this game is even easier than the others, the trainers only have one pokemon each" and then WHAM boss battles.

It was that thinking that made me play left handed. I told myself I'd never use more than 4 pokemon.

With that in mind, for most of the game my team was Magnemite, Rowlet, Wishiwashi and Minior.

Lost to Ilima because Smeargle outsped and 2HkOd my only two pokemon at that point with Ember.

Lost to totem Lurantis after forgetting to save after my initial win. Called Castform again, Pluck wouldn't 2HkO Lurantis, and the bastard used synthesis on the turn I was gonna 3HkO while Castform used Weatherball.

Lost to
because I'd gone in with my exp share turned off pre-e4, so no level advantage, minimal items and *miserable* movepool issues (hadn't at that point any Fighting or Ground moves, which meant Magnezone and Snorlax won via attrition, also his Incineroar 2HkOd my Wishiwashi with Darkest Lariat before Scald did). Lost another two times after that before accepting the loss and leaving the e4, getting Bulldoze and Low Sweep and won handily. (Thanks to probably some levelling up from the e4 rematches.)

Lost to Dexio because we were level matched but he had more pokemon than me and I could neither outspeed nor tank hits from his MAlakazam. Second time went very similarly, only I 2HKo'd him with Discharge after sturdy kicked in on a focus blast. Phew!

*Didn't* lose to Blue, no idea how since I hadn't healed my pokemon after the last gauntlet battle. His movepool was kinda shit though.

All in all: great. Story was great and I love the difficulty even if it is partially self-imposed. I wish they'd smooth out some of it though, it's peaks and troughs the whole way difficulty wise.

Now that I'm finished the game, I'm left with a sour taste in my mouth. Not content with the adding the *terrible* Festival plaza and removing the should-be-series-staple PSS, and O-powers, they've taken out methods for easy and reliable levelling (nothing can ever compare to blissey bases admittedly), the dexnav is sorely missed since it really did open routes out for exploration, and EV training is definitely worse than it was... Fishing is kinda shit too. For the kind of stuff that I spend most of a game doing, I think I prefer XY and ORAS. I find myself wanting to do all of my breeding, training and catching in ORAS and hate that I can't do that for some new stuff. Also the BW-style change to the lottery pisses me off since that was a full generation where I wasn't able to farm master balls, and I don't like having to clone them. At least the only stuff I was gonna use them on was Bulu and Lele, so it's not too bad. (EDIT: YOU CAN'T EVEN SIT ON CHAIRS ANYMORE)

Question; do any wild Pokemon have Lucky eggs? And has the Macho Brace been found yet? (Or a hacky way of beating the Tree like the entrainment teams last gen?)
 
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Traded for a Dhelmise over GTS a while back just because finding one wild sounds like a pain. Decided to breed it for some trade fodder and possible usage (though calculating IVs/EVs is beyond me so meh) ... and the very first I hatched is a shiny. Bruh. I can't even remember the last time I caught a shiny, or if I did if they were actually legit or not. Unlike many shiny colourations, I actually kind of dig this one.

Sadly it's Mild (+Special Attack, -Defence) nature, which is kinda wut for it but eh.
 
Yesterday, I was trying to soft reset for a Modest Tapu Lele but ended up catching a Jolly one in a regular Poke Ball at full health instead, decided to not soft reset it just because there's only a .4% chance of that happening. I'll just try to get a Sassy Tapu Fini later today and tomorrow to at least have one usable Tapu (because I only use Koko for shiny hunting because it has a good movepool for that)

I'm also currently trying to hunt a shiny Fomantis but no luck so far


I really enjoyed the game, it was probably my favorite main series one since Black and White

And because why not here was my team when I beat the game minus levels and moves because I don't remember them exactly

Bohrok (Araquanid)- He was easily one of my best party members, and put in a ton of work thanks to Water Bubble letting him hit like a truck. He really began to shine upon getting Liquidation, which was much better than Bubble Beam which he was stuck with for the longest time.

Owliver (Decidueye)- He definitely put in work for the longest time, but mostly because he was my starter. Even if he was pretty slow, he was pretty good. He also helped me easily do the Mimikyu totem fight, which apparently a lot of people had a lot of trouble with.

Junko (Ninetales-A)- She was my last party member, so she sadly didn't get to put in much work because she was so underleveled upon joining the party. The most she did was deal with Acerola's Sableye, but that was it. I got to use Alolan Ninetales on my team at the very least, and I was planning on doing that ever since it was announced.

Bulk (Snorlax)- He really didn't put in much work, and was mostly just here as filler. I never got too much of a chance to use him, even though I really should have.

Solaire (Solgaleo)- He put in a lot of work during the Elite Four, because all my other Pokemon were pretty underleveled. He's basically the only reason I didn't need to do an absurd amount of grinding, and ended up soloing all of the Elite Four. He also replaced the Gumshoos I had on my team since the beginning of the game for some reason.

Galaxian (Vikavolt)- She was pretty good, even if she wasn't my best party member. Even if it was a hassle to level her up when she was a Grubbin and didn't have any attacking moves outside of Vice Grip, but she became much better upon evolving into Charjabug.
 
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Psht, Battle Tree doesn't seem that bad. I've grinded the team to Lv 63, including Null, which is now a Silvally and part of the team.

Decidueye is too slow and isn't too useful toward the end, but isn't useless. It just sorta is there toward the end. His name is Long Shot.
Alolan Raichu was fun to find as a wild Pichu with that low spawn rate and the friendship evolution was more fun. Reliable for Speed, though. His name is Butterscotch.
Alolan Muk's got a good typing and good bulk that can allow you to pivot on certain opponents, but a neutrality to Guzma's attacks is not enough. Obviously a bit slow. His name is Dr. Opaque.
Shiinotic has an awesome movepool between Spore, Moonblast, and Giga Drain. Effect Spore is handy as well. Also a bit slow, obviously, but the moves are good. Her name is Madame Mushy.
Alolan Exeggutor is nice, though a bit slow. Comes later than I would have liked it to have but can use Sleep Powder + 3 moves. His name is Tall Tale, and the framerate DROPS when you pet him in Pokemon Refresh.
Silvally seems to be working out, though it a bit of extra work to grind it up twenty levels higher than from when I first got it. Another friendship evolution. Yay. His name is Kevin.

I also really really miss having Lillie around. Like, a lot. I had no idea how much I'd miss her until she left so suddenly after her new found determination and confidence just came into play. She was always behind. You motivated her to become stronger, and she would have no idea, but she motivated you to become stronger, too. I guess it's a bit stupid to feel this way about a fictional character, but when the upbeat music from Poni Wilds starts playing I always think about her.
 
I'm liking the game a lot, and if you don't pack the right pokémon it can be very hard.
I'm at the Poni Canyon and only now I'm reading spoilers and such.

I have both Moon and Sun, but in Sun I'm still in the first island, so this is a Moon opinion.

I started to want to train all the new pokémon and new forms, but with Exp. Share turned off you really have to grind to stay alive.
I didn't want to know spoilers so I had no idea which pokémon existed, how they evolved, how the game was, etc. I only knew the pokémon from the very early previews.

My starter was Rowlett. I generally prefer the Grass types because they're more defensive and I like the Leech Seeding and Synthesis etc.

The pokémon I started to train and then ditched are:
- Gumshoos, right at level 20, because I didn't believe it would be any good, and it already evolved so not funny.
- Alola Grimer, Meowth and Digglet. I started to train them but with the horrendous exp gain with no exp. share I didn't have time for them, so I went for new pokémon only team.

My team as of the start of Poni Canyon and my opinion of them. Natures are horrendous like Timid Mudscale lol

Decidueye
- It's good to have a ghost type to give you a great neutral coverage, but the bulk from early forms are gone. Everything carries super effective moves against me. Still solid and Synthesis is a plus.
- Leaf Blade
- Synthesis
- Toxic
- Spirit Shackle

Vikavolt
- Bug/Electric is a cool typing and I knew this evo line from the early info, so I decided to try it. But I DIDN'T know how they evolved. And Charjabug kept leveling and leveling... but surprisingly it handles it quite well. Good defenses and attack make it one of the most reliable members of my team. I knew it could survive and kill things. I just evolved it to Vikavolt and now have only Thunderbolt as special move lol
- Thunderbolt
- Bug Bite
- Acrobatics
- Crunch

Ribombee
- Bug/Fairy is another cool typing and I liked Cutiefly. Surprisingly for an early bug it works so well. I would say it's the pokémon that saved me the most times together with Mudscale. Stun Spore and Struggle Bug are emergency team utility against strong pokés and Pollen Puff and Dazzling Gleam hit hard. Very fast and reliable, it doesn't look that frail ingame.
- Pollen Puff
- Dazzling Gleam
- Aromatherapy
- Stun Spore

Araquanid
- ZOMG a bug/water type that doesn't lose the typing upon evolving. And this fucking ability, giving a de facto fire resistance, awesome. Another reliable pokémon, ingame its attacks always worked well, but looking at it special attack I didn't knew why Scald looked so... strong. Apparently the ability boosts water moves too lol. Burn + Infestation is great against bulky pokémon to help the team.
- Infestation
- Leech Life
- Lunge
- Scald

Mudscale
- As you have noticed I use a LOT of bugs in this run (and a grass/flying for a while and a Salandit later) so rock attacks were scary. Enter the ground donkey/horse with a great ability. The movepool is just good, Bulldoze/High Horsepower to demolish things and Rock Tomb to hit for coverage AND slowing the target (together with Bulldoze). Very important for the team, and Stamina saved me plenty of times too.
- High Horsepower
- Counter
- Rock Tomb
- Heavy Slam

Salandit, the lv 45 male Salandit
- Yeah I didn't know how it evolved so I kept my male Salandit. And it just went on and on, being OHKOed by everything while I helped him. Well, now that I know it will never get big, it has to go. Much feelings, don't know if I will replace it with a Salazzle or another poke. The typing and movepool are so cool. Problem #1: it is ALSO weak to rock. As a plus, probably I'm the only person in history that dared to use a male Salandit until lv 45 LOL
- Flamethrower
- Sludge Bomb
- Toxic
- Nastly Plot

I will talk about the Totems at a later stage.

Pokémon I will definitively use in Sun:
- Toxapex
- Pyukumuku
 
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I finally beat the elite four last night and wowowowowowowowow I am impressed. I have never felt so many emotions playing a Pokemon game since Platinum. GameFreak honestly really outdid themselves on this one.

holy shit this elite four was tough. throughout p much all of aether foundation and even against lusamine i felt like i was over-leveled, which worried me since i was thinking the e4 and the area leading up to it would be too easy. but holy shit they changed my mind real quick. i was terrified i wasn't going to make it, but it was challenging and exhilarating! and hoLY SHIT the champion battle theme is my new favorite in the series, perhaps even surpassing cynthias. that was a TOUGH fight, but with the music and the stakes it was one of the most memorable for me.

all in all, with the new features added like ride pokemon, pokemon pelago, and the gorgeous setting and music, this game easily stands as one of the best in the series for me.
 
Cool Shades the Kid said:
So we can all agree that Lusamine's Clefable is the worst. During the mother beast battle it metronomed geomancy and the first turn and I didn't get the crit. It took me ten minutes to beat that thing.
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That Clefable is a damned monster, and I have no idea why. It took my Salazzle cheesing it with Taunt to kill it, and even then it took something like 5 Sludge Waves (this was without it being able to heal or buff itself due to Taunt) to kill it.

The rest of Lusamine's team wasn't any harder than they were the first time, it's the weirdest thing.
 
Hyper Cutter said:
That Clefable is a damned monster, and I have no idea why. It took my Salazzle cheesing it with Taunt to kill it, and even then it took something like 5 Sludge Waves (this was without it being able to heal or buff itself due to Taunt) to kill it.

The rest of Lusamine's team wasn't any harder than they were the first time, it's the weirdest thing.
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The only real threat to me aside from that DEMONIC Clefable was Mismagius, stupid coverage....luckily it fucked up eventually with pain split. Never let Game Freak give a boss a Clefable EVER again.....

On the other hand, lemme give a shout out to my boi Kukui. Dropping them SNEAKY PEBBLES on me turn 1. Then proceeds to set up his Incineroar for a clean sweep through my team with Tailwind behind it. Second attempt resulted in me engaging in a stall war with his Snorlax, barely won. It's honestly one of the BEST Champion battles in the series. Absolutely glorious, what a fitting finale. He's probably right behind Cynthia and Blue in my list of favourite champions.
 
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