Pokemon Sun & Moon Review - SPOILERS INSIDE

[Alolan_Apples]

I haven't blogged about anything in a while. I really haven't, but the StarFall Press is still gonna stay alive.

Today, I have finished story mode for Pokemon Moon, like I have for Pokemon Sun last November (even though I reset data for my copy of Pokemon Sun). But I have experienced both endings.

If you have not finished the game, don't continue reading since some spoilers are in my blog. If you have beaten the game, then you may continue reading since you know the spoilers.

Although I played Pokemon games before, I never played an actual main series Pokemon game until Sun and Moon came out. I didn't have any interest into Pokemon when X & Y came out, as well as ORAS (which is why I didn't identify myself as a Pokemon player). It's also worth mentioning that I don't play Pokemon Go. But Sun and Moon, I actually went for it, mainly because of the cover legendaries and starters. What did I want? Solgaleo. What did I start with? Popplio. Which one became my favorite Pokemon? The answer is Eevee after playing Pokemon Sun for a while. I even got a bottle with an Eevee print on it. And last Christmas, I got Eevee and Espeon plushes (two of my favorite Pokemon). Originally, I was only gonna play Pokemon Sun, but I got Pokemon Moon for Christmas, so I had to play it and start over Pokemon Sun to undo the errors I made, but help me get some Pokemon like Glaceon very early in Pokemon Moon.

Now let's get started with the review.

Like I said in the above paragraph, I never played a real Pokemon game until Sun and Moon came out, but I did play games like Pokemon Stadium, Pokemon Snap, and Pokemon Puzzle League. Basically, I only played the N64 Pokemon games until last November. As it was my first main Pokemon game, I actually had fun with it. I liked the story of it, and I did enjoy training my Pokemon. But there were a few things I didn't like about it (that were unique to Sun and Moon).

• If you aren't champion, the game feels very restricted. There are some areas you couldn't go to. Although it didn't bother me in Sun, I totally forgot about how restricted it was when I played Pokemon Moon.
• No gyms, gym leaders, or badges. I was kinda disappointed by this as I heard that earlier games had this.
• Wild Pokemon occassionally call for help when they are in trouble. It makes catching them harder or making battles longer.
• The Haina Desert. It's too much like a maze, wild Pokemon spawn easily, and even if you have Max Repels on (which aren't long enough), it doesn't block dirt pile Pokemon.
• The slow loading times on older 3DS models.

But here are the features I did like that didn't appear in previous versions.

• The Z-crystals and Z-powered moves.
• The Poke Ride system.
• Poké Pelago (where you can EV train your Pokemon and farm your own berries).
• Poké Finder. However, it needs a grading system like Prof Oak's check in Pokemon Snap.
• Ultra Beasts as Pokemon to catch.

Paying attention to the differences, I liked Sun more than Moon. But I liked my trainer I made in Pokemon Moon more (which was a female). I also like my Pokemon in Moon more than in Sun because of their competition-worthiness. But here are some reasons why I liked Sun more (regardless of trainers):

• The time of the day corresponds to the time of the day in real life.
• Solgaleo is better looking than Lunala (even if I major in special moves over physical moves).
• Some of the Sun exclusive Pokemon are better than their Moon counterparts. Pokemon Sun had Rufflet, Cottonee, the mid-day Lycanroc, and the Alolan Vulpix, which were better than Vullaby, Petilil, the night-time Lycanroc, and the Alolan Sandshrew (respectively).

And here's what I like about Moon more:

• The ultra beasts in Moon are better than in Sun (the exclusive ones that is).
• The color scheme for the clothes (which are cold colors rather than hot colors).
• Since Gen I, there's always a red version and a blue version of the Pokemon games. Pokemon Moon is the blue version.

Finally, I'm gonna go over the post-game. Once you beat the final boss of the game (which really is the professor), you will have a new series of quests. One of them is that you can finish your Pokedex. You can also obtain the other legendaries (Tapu guardians, Cosmog, Type: Null, Zygarde, and Necrozma). Plus, there's the Ultra Beasts to catch, the Battle Tree to compete in, and the Eevee trainers to defeat to get Eevee's Z-crystal.

The best part about the post-game is that I am free to do what I want in Pokemon. I can go anywhere, catch any Pokemon, train my Pokemon the way I want, and gather anything I want. Oh, and if I beat the game, I can enter my favorite location - the Resolution Cave. That's where I level up my Pokemon. If I could camp in the depths of the cave, I may have to worry about the Golbats and Dugtrios that live there. But I can always have an Espeon on guard if they are about to attack.

The worst part is that the story characters' roles are minimal in the post-game. Kukui, Hau, Gladion, the kahunas, and the trial captains have repetitive dialogue. Team Skull has disbanded. And worst of all, Lillie is gone. It's kinda sad to see her go. You couldn't even get to talk to her once you capture the cover legendary. And once she leaves, she's not going back, at least until a possible future patch if Game Freak wants to surprise us, which I don't know if they will.

That's all for the review. I had fun playing Pokemon Sun and Moon all this time. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.