Hey all, hope everyone had a great Christmas One of my presents I got at Christmas was Pokemon Ultra Moon. I was quite excited to play this game; more diversity of Pokemon, hopefully carrying on after the previous game and building off of it. The new ultra beasts looked consistent with the previous ones, yet new and quirky. -SPOILERS FROM NOW ON- However, now I've been playing it for two days and I've finished the trials on Akala island, and I'm about to face Olivia. I have, so far, been greatly let down by this game. It starts at a confusing points; seemingly at the same time as the SM games. Hau is once again a new trainers, Cosmog a mystery and Gladion is a part of Team Skull. Furthermore, ultra beasts are still considered an anomaly of nature. This really didn't meet my expectations of the game. The start of the game, in my opinion, is thoroughly tedious and not interesting. You are forced to try every feature of the game; photo shooting, mantine surfing, helping various characters. These small side tasks last far too long, and much longer than in previous games as I can remember. Furthermore, USUM is too similar in gameplay to SM. For example, you save to save Nebby from spearow in both pairs of games. You meet the mega evolution researchers from Kalos at the same point. The trials are almost identical, with the exclusion of the lush jungle trial. This makes the start of the game so boring and like Gamefreak have put no effort into these new games. Now, another point about the laziness of Gamefreak; dusk lycanroc. This is perhaps the laziest new pokemon I have seen. It is literally an (ugly) orange midday form. There are no noticable differences between dusk and midday forms, besides the colouration. It's stats are the same as midday, bar the two points differences in attack and speed. Gamefreak could have made a much better design; a nicer shade of orange, original design features, totally different stat distribution. Dusk lycanroc is a major let down. Contrary to my previous points, there are aspects of the game that I enjoy. The new diversity of Pokemon is nice; I have quite a generational mix in my current team. Also, the new characters (seemingly from the wormholes) are a nice new addition to the game. I really hope that as the game goes on, it diverges from SM and becomes its own game. I hope there will be new, enjoyable features and the game-play will be sufficiently different. In the future games, Gamefreak needs to step up their game. They barely acknowledge that people play Pokemon who have before and are older than 12. They don't need the whole tutorial at the start, and perhaps a new game mode could be added to allow people to play as a trainer who wants a new career start in a new region, starting their teams from scratch again. This would remove the hassle and bore of the lengthy tutorial game play. Anyway, how have you found, or are you finding, the USUM games? What are some things that you like and dislike? What would you like to see improved or added?
Hope you had a good one also! I don't really like the idea, and I don't know if you watched any trailers or read any info from when the games were announced and up to release, but the games were announced as an alternate universe type thing, so it does take place at the same time in an alternate reality I agree this is annoying lol ----------------- I just finished the first island so I am a bit behind lol, but hopefully the game picks up a bit. I just have unmotivated to play for some of the same reasons you stated. I also agree that, from what I've played so far, gamefreak did get lazy with this one.
Thanks, this does clear it up a lot! I tried to avoid trailers and info about the game to an extent, because in almost all the previous games I had just ruined them by looking at all the leaks and revealed info.
Oh ok, gotcha. It's hard to avoid leaks and info about games. Well, hopefully we find the game more appealing as we play
A. I love the games, the new areas of Alola have great design, and the Ultra Wormhole minigame to finding the legendary pokemon beats the Mirage Islands from ORAS easily. Having beaten the games and caught almost every legendary (Also a few Shinies from 5,000+ Lightyear runs in the wormhole), the game has more to do even though I have almost completed every post game activity besides filling my Pokedex. Dusk Form Lycanroc and Necrozma's new forms are pretty awesome too... B. Personally, i think USUM are a bit too similar to SM to be considered different games, sure the main climax is very different and there are more Pokemon and locations, but it seems more like a second episode in Alola rather than a different game (Sorta like the Delta episode in ORAS where Sky Pillar was opened up to the game). The tutorial and the island challenge are almost the same other than some of the Totem Pokemon being different. Also still awaiting my DP remakes..... C. My biggest problem with these games is Ultra Megalopolis. All you do is run up an excruciatingly long distance just to battle Ultra Necrozma, then walk all the way back and return to Alola. No lore, no extras, just a battle and a long walk. That's it. Episode RR does nothing to fix this, and the only purpose of the Wormhole entry (at the Altar on Poni Island) is just to use the wormhole for Legendary/Shiny hunting and traveling to the reverse world for Cosmog.
How easy is it actually to do this? I've seen a few videos on Youtube about how people are finding it super easy to get shinies from it. Also, it is just random shinies or can you influence what you get? I have grown on Dusk Lycanroc actually, I do quite like it now. Ultra Necrozma looks amazing and so cool, but is barely related to the normal form. I don't mind the Solgaleo fusion, but I love the Lunaala fusion. I never liked the original Lunaala, it just looked wrong with no legs or body, but the fusion gives it these things and it looks so good. Now you say it, this is actually a very good way of putting it. I can completely understand what you are saying here, from what I actually remember of ORAS.
The shinies come out depending on how far you get in the game and also what portal you go into. Ive gotten them as early as 3500 runs, but they are more common further back. So far from what I've gotten the shinies appear for the more common Pokemon (Barbaracle, Drapion, etc) but I did score a shiny Quagsire as well. Looking for Yanmega next...
So just randomly searching for legendaries since those portals come out at the same area as the shinies should give some if you get lucky enough. The rate is certainly lower than normal (breeding or the calling for help techniques) ways to get shinies.
Thanks, I know what to look for- the dirty suds collar. Or I could tack on an extra 30-60 seconds to a SR to check the party after the cutscene
I grabbed the Ultra Moon this week and I'm enjoying it so far with 9 hours in. It is fairly similar, but there is various different details. One thing I'd like to note about Dusk Lycanroc is that its design is actually a combo of both of the previous forms. It has the mane and red glowing eyes when attacking of Midnight, and is a quadruped like Midday. The Tough Claws ability also makes it a lot stronger than both forms, as it increases the damage of contact moves by 30%. In all honesty, it's likely the strongest Pokemon in Alola, not counting Legendaries or Ultra Beasts. Its high speed stat and attack stat, along with Tough Claws make it a great addition to any team.
I should mention that for a Rockruff to evolve to Dusk Lycanrock, you need to level between 5-6 PM in Sun or 5-6 AM in Moon. It must also have the hidden ability Own Tempo.
That is exactly the reason why I dislike Dusk Lycanroc. It barely resembles Midnight Lycanroc, just with the obvious addition of the hooded mane. The glowing eyes are not visible much of the time, so barely contribute to the overall aesthetic and appearance. It could have been much better, incorporating more features Midnight, to fulfil it's role much better. Plus, it could have had original, distinguishing features (which would really help this dull, boring design)
I like how throughout the thread, you go from disliking Dusk Lycanroc, to liking it, to disliking it again.
I don't mean to sound like I'm saying you're wrong/bashing your opinion, but remember this is an entirely different lycanroc form, if they made it look too much like the Midnight form it would lose its own purpose as a completely different form. Sure, it more closely resembles the Midday form, but the same goes for that as well. I do agree that it could have more distinguishing features, it seems like a hybrid of the forms that went into a paint machine (lol) to me... Also, what are everyone's thoughts on the new Ultra Beasts (for those who have caught them)?
Blacephalon to me is one of those pokemon where it seems like a joke that actually got put into motion. I mean come on, the fire/ghost type is awesome, but what does an exploding disco ball on a stick have to do with fire?! 😆
