Pokemon Sun/Moon In-Game Progress Thread

[wraith89]

I guess a couple of you are actually finished with the game, while others are still exploring through other parts of the game like I am. For those who are not finished this can be where we just talk about where we are up to and your reactions/comments/etc. Please do keep plot-related things in spoilers because some people are sensitive to plot-related things being spoiled early.

I am currently at the point after capturing Lunala, but I have not really progressed yet from that point.

 

The Lusamine battle before was actually kind of funny. I swept it entirely with a Level 51 Ninetales, and I came out as Level 53. I knew waiting until Vulpix learned Sheer Cold was not a mistake! What I did was set up Calm Minds against the initial Clefable, who everyone said was an annoying battle due to Cosmic Power spam and Metronome picking the right moves. Its Moonblasts barely scathed Ninetales and after setting up Calm Minds I threw a Sheer Cold and it folded. I then proceeded to Ice Beam Mismagius and Lilligant, attempted Sheer Cold twice against Milotic while it landed one Hydro Pump on Ninetales, and finished Bewear off with Lovely Star Impact (Z Faerie attack). It could not have turned out any better.

Lunala was basically me continually Soft Resetting until I got a desired one. Timid Lunala's max at level 55 is 140 speed, and FORTUNATELY I had an Arcanine at exactly 139 speed, allowing me to check whether it was proper IV build or not. I do not like forced legendary captures, and I never used legendaries in-game ever since RGBYGSC times, but I hear this thing is significant for in-game story later, so I may have to use it against the League.

It ultimately ended up with IVs that look like this:

HP: 31
Atk: 20-23
Def: 24-25
SpA: 31
SpDef: 26-27
Speed: 31

Yeah, I want to progress so this is good enough for me. Soft resetting for desired legendaries REALLY drain the energy out of you. If you are patient enough to get to level 100 in this game, however, and if you have enough bottle caps, you can superficially get it to "max stats" though.

I have been rotating Pokemon a lot and a lot in this game without a set team, though I think this may change once I have to consolidate a proper team during the Elite 4. Primarina is my only permanent member because I do not box the starter, and she ended up too high leveled compared to everyone else. It is my emergency panic button in case things do go wrong. I think I have around 50 Pokemon in training, and they range from mid 20s to 50s. Primarina is level 61 or something. I guess so far, the game is interesting, though I have some complaints about it, but I can write that later when I am finished with the game. I think the level jump took my by surprise, especially nearing the 3rd island to 4th island transition. While my Pokemon were still at high 30s (I switch Pokemon out whenever they get too high leveled so I can train new ones), I found myself competing against level 45s and wildmons even being at the same level. I guess I am to blame for that playstyle, but that drastic level curve was rather unexpected. The beginning of 1st to 2nd island was rather slow too because there was a paucity of trainers and each of them had only one Pokemon. The major boss battles, I think, had EVs allocated in perfect places, and I do not know if they have perfect IVs. Your Pokemon are handicapped with useless EVs everywhere due to the nature of in-game progression, so that alone was a bit of a challenge too. I was wondering why a Sableye of all things had the power to 2HKO most of my Pokemon then.

So far it is a mix. I kind of enjoy it, but at the same time, some parts feel unnecessarily difficult at times. That and AI does like to cheat with confusion never working when I use Confuse Ray but I never seem to fail to have Magneton generate fists out of nowhere and hit itself in confusion 7 times in a row. My biggest complaint so far is how railroaded the game is, and how the gatekeepers are always telling me "oh you cannot come here! You must do X first!". This is how I missed the desert area initially before backtracking. I also thought it was immensely awkward that I have 2 seconds of walking before entering into 10 minutes of cutscenes every time I progress through the story. Soft resetting for a proper starter was a nightmare. Generally, I felt the story's main character was Lillie, and my character, the sociopath with no emotions other than having a fixed smile no matter how dire the situation is, was just the battle bot. Anyways, how did you guys find the game so far? And is it fun?

[Mewtwo Ex]

I am enjoying the game very much. Probably not as much as ORAS, but then again i started with Hoenn. I like that the game is mode console than handheld now. I mean that there are more interesting camera angles LOTS more, a good deal of cut scenes, as well as the well known updated visuals. These are things we've come to expect of console titles, but never has pokemon been so generous with these in a handheld game. The story is interesting and despite not being a fan of Hawaii/Alola, i quite enjoy it. 
I think that the world blends well between different parts of the map. Maybe too good. I always feel like i'm in a tropical island, even if there is a snow cave nearby. So i'd say that can be a minus for me.
Another thing is the zombie face of the protagonist... Why is it always the same...?  ALWAYS!!

Other than these things, i'd say it's a pretty solid game and i am glad i have both versions of it.