Many of us gamers at Sinclair have been engrossed by the latest release of Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon. One particular fan was wearing a full Pikachu pajama set. I wholeheartedly encourage this.
On the day of its release, although I was so tirelessly working and attending classes from 9 in the morning until 9 in the evening, I managed to pick up my copy of Moon Friday.
I’ve since logged too many hours to openly admit on playtime. I have beaten all the available post game. Currently, I’m assembling a competitive team for this year’s tourneys.
People do not seem to realize that yes, you can make money from training virtual creatures and then forcing them to battle each other. It’s like a more kid friendly Michael Vick scenario—with more friendship and a better plotline.
Certainly, Sun and Moon were great additions to the franchise. Many notable quality of life adjustments were made. No longer will you need dastardly hidden machine users to navigate areas of the game.
Instead, you now call up “ride” Pokemon, which navigate the troubles of the environment without having to sacrifice your team composition. The second change was that the designated effectiveness of attacks on any given opponent is now displayed.
I feel the two changes have really opened the games up to the younger generations again. There’s no need to memorize type tables or give up too much room in your party just to get through the game and enjoy doing so.
Sun and Moon feel a lot like how we wanted Pokemon X and Pokemon Y to feel.
The storytelling, as well animated and intriguing it becomes, falls short in a few areas for me. The start up is incredibly slow. Sun and Moon may have been my least favorite villain antagonists of the entire series.
While they are humorous, spending your first 15 hours with no idea why skull-clad gangsters are running around towns quite essentially trying to give you their mixed-tapes.
The second half unfolds and the antagonist’s potential is simply unrealized. With Sun and Moon following the successes of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the antagonists just don’t have that same feeling of purpose.
What I did appreciate was the odd sense of the Pokemon world finally cementing into the form it was meant to—a dynamic role playing game. I was left feeling so nostalgic playing through the game.
Now, this is not nostalgia over the original 151 Pokemon or something of that nature. Instead, it appeared to me like two of my favorite series had blurred together: Megaman.Exe and Pokemon.
The storytelling and environment from the Megaman.Exe series was really echoed in many of the elements of Sun and Moon. For starters, you now have an electronic personality living along with you as your Pokedex.
Traveling to the different islands feels rewarding. The new mechanics of totem Pokemon I have no real strong stance on. I think it was great to try out something new, but I don’t feel they’re more successful than the previous installments.
Sun and Moon are the future of the Pokemon franchise. The potential the games have shown with their overhaul of various gatekeeping, anti-fun mechanics has given a way for younger people to easily transition into the other kinds of Pokemon gaming.
It’s so much easier to really start competing and developing now, all in a user friendly, veteran friendly interface.
As a last note, I’d like to thank everyone who’s been reading my little column here. I really enjoy the conversations I’ve had around campus and seeing how relevant gaming culture is at Sinclair. Wishing you all a happy holiday season full of family time and sprinkled with a dusting of gaming on break, I’ll see you next year.
Barton Kleen
Executive Editor