May 232016
Since their announcement, I haven’t said a lot about Pokémon Sun and Moon.
Pokémon X and Y were a disappointment to me. I haven’t touched my copy of Y in ages, not even to get any of the event Pokémon. (And I was the sort of person who visited the mall with multiple Pokémon games to get the event Pokémon in all of them.)
But I can’t hold a grudge against the whole series. I might even give Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire a chance after all. And when it comes to Sun and Moon, here are my hopes for it.
Improved Exploration
To me, X and Y didn’t feel like they had a lot of exploration. Sure, the world was 3D, but there wasn’t much of it. Caves, especially suffered. While I’m not a big fan of Pokémon caves, they felt lifeless.
I don’t mind a little linearity, but I never felt a real interest in X/Y’s world. Was it just me?
I hope Sun and Moon have a world I want to explore, with cool locations and side areas. Since the Alola region is a series of islands, it sounds like a perfect fit.
A Good Story
I know, looking for a good plot in Pokémon games is a bad idea to start with. After Black/White, though, I can’t help it. I loved the story in those games, and I have no end of praise for them because of it.
While the main plot of X/Y didn’t do it for me, it had glimmers of excitement… and the Looker side quest in the post-game had better writing than the entire rest of the game.
I’ve also heard the ORAS Delta Episode has good writing.
Pokémon doesn’t need to reach epic JRPG levels of plot, but I hope Sun and Moon have an interesting storyline again, one where I care about the characters and want to know what happens next.
Good Villains
Even without a strong story, I’ll settle for good villains. You know what my biggest problem with X/Y was? Team Flare. It’s hard to take villains seriously when they look like this.
Lysandre was at least intimidating. He wants to use an ultimate weapon to destroy anyone who isn’t part of Team Flare, then remake a more “beautiful” world.
Except Cyrus did it better!
Cyrus wants to destroy the universe to remake a universe without any conflict. (Or emotion.) He has a more concrete backstory than Lysandre. He’s crazy, but within the context of his insanity, his actions make more sense. (Aren’t the members of Team Flare exactly the sort of people Lysandre hates? Why are they the ones he’s saving?)
All right, I know there are people who like Lysandre better, but I couldn’t help but see him as a less-interesting imitation of Cyrus.
Fun Mini-Games
Pokémon contests, the Pokéathlon, Voltorb Flip, that awesome mining stuff in Diamond/Pearl/Platinum… I want more fun mini-games like that. (What did X/Y have? Just Pokémon-Amie?)
And while it’s not quite a mini-game, the Join Avenue in White 2/Black 2 was the main reason I kept playing my copy long after I finished the main game.
These are a few of the things I hope Pokémon Sun and Moon have. I apologize for my X/Y ranting. What do you hope to see in the new Pokémon games?
Just to be clear:
You can have islands and still be very linear. Islands doesn’t necessarily mean free exploration like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It could be like Mr. Briney’s boat in Ruby/Sapphire.
Cyrus and Team Galactic are much better than Team Flare in terms of everything besides Galactic grunts being doomed to use Wurmple. (But even that conveyed some personality and humour.) You shouldn’t have one of the versions make less sense than the other for the villainous team’s goals. (I hear Y made less sense than X, as someone who played X.)
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/696959-pokemon-x/67522733
^Good opening post.
Pokémon Amie AND the balloon-fighting thing for effort values.
Does Dream World count as minigames?
I know, but it would seem awkward if the entire region is made up of islands and you have to follow a straight path or two through them.
Glad to know you prefer Team Galactic, too!
I didn’t know X and Y’s stories had differences like that. I know White and Black had some odd differences (like whether N’s philosophy was truth or ideals). Maybe playing Y contributed to my dislike of the story, if it makes less sense.
Okay, I looked up the story differences. It sounds like in X, Lysandre wants to get rid of people who are wasting the world’s resources to make the world more beautiful, while in Y he wants to get rid of everyone who isn’t “deserving.” Also, apparently at the climax of X, Lysandre tries to force immortality on the player. In Y, he tries to kill everyone in the building instead.
That’s a great post you linked, especially about how contradictory and vague Lysandre/Team Flare’s goals are. Like I mentioned in my rant, he’s written like someone who would want to kill people like Team Flare, instead of save them.
Oh, I forgot about the balloon-fighting and the Dream World.
Well it’s either a linear path through the islands, or you can Surf between the islands.
But that implies you get Surf really early, does it not?
(They could just do away with these HMs entirely, which is something we’ve hoped would happen in the games for generations now.)
Yeah, the immortality/kill everyone thing is because of the difference between Xerneas and Yveltal.
Sun and Moon will probably continue these story differences between versions, and will likely expand them. They gotta justify the continued existence of two versions, after all, and the global trading makes the Pokémon availability less and less of a justification every generation.
I was on the Dream World almost every day for a lengthy period of time. I had a great house!
Or maybe the first few islands are linear, and then later you can Surf between them.
I wouldn’t mind saying goodbye to HMs.
From the success of the Yo-Kai Watch games in Japan, the two-version model still seems to be strong.
I loved the Dream World. I can’t believe I forgot about it!