52 IN 52: Pokémon Ultra Sun ultra cle--well, no, just normal cleared

[swordianmaster]

Having played through Pokémon Moon and being fully cognizant of its bevy of issues, I've got a complicated relationship with Ultra Sun now that I've played through to the credits.

For better or worse, there are points of Sun/Moon that felt rushed, incomplete. Shoehorned in after the fact. There was a fair bit of backtracking and pacing issues, and in general, you could kind of see rough patches here and there, especially if you had an older 3DS system (which tended to chug a bit on the more intensive battles in the game).

Ultra Sun (and, assumedly, Ultra Moon) feel... more complete. More like a finished product.

I can't say I'm sure if it's better in quite the same way that Crystal, Emerald or Platinum were marked improvements over Gold/Silver, Ruby/Sapphire or Diamond/Pearl. In a similar fashion to those, though, they've touched up the plot, tweaked it... made it similar but also fundamentally different in exactly enough ways to make it a "remix" as opposed to a third(/fourth) version of the exact same thing.

If anything, I'd say Ultra Sun is about halfway between Platinum and Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. There's a lot of polish but most of it is just for show, new flashy things or post-game Infinite Catchemalling. It's good, it's an upgraded version, but it's... weird. Different. I don't know how to really get into more vivid detail.

Thankfully, it doesn't throw you face-first into a legendary fight right in the middle of the (unskippable) end credits like Sun/Moon did. I would be a lot less forgiving of it if it did.

There was a big long ramble about determination and rival characters following this, but I'll crop it to the important part: People who do that "oh you're the bad rival all along" need to go sit on it for this game, because the main character and Hau are both protagonists, just of different stories that cross and intermingle. This isn't like X/Y where Caleb/Serena had no other reason to exist than to lose to you.

Comments

[xyzzysqrl]

This isn't like X/Y where Caleb/Serena had no other reason to exist than to lose to you.

THANK GOODNESS.
I felt so BAD about that.

[swordianmaster]

Honestly, that was the whole reason I kept wanting to touch on it here. Like, yeah, Hau does that thing of constantly trying to beat you because he's gotten so much stronger etc etc?

But you hear about him doing other things while he's doing that. He's clearing the gyms trials alongside you. By the end of the game he's managing it before you. He's finally working his way out of the shadow of his family. When he's tagging along next to you, he's getting life lessons about having a reason to fight, as opposed to having battles cuz battles r fun. And he's never really upset about a lost match or two along the way, from beginning to end.

Caleb/Serena just sort of... existed. The whole X/Y entourage just sort of "existed". You had the guy who liked dancing, the guy who liked filling out the pokedex, the blatant puppy love prospect, and then Caleb/Serena, whose one note was "loses to you".

[xyzzysqrl]

Tierno is the only one of the group I remembered offhand. I don't remember Ms. "I'll Hold Your Hand While We Watch Fireworks"'s name and I didn't remember Trevor EXISTED until you mentioned him.

Caleb just made me feel bad. I'm glad Hau doesn't do that.

[kjorteo]

I always felt awkward about the X/Y entourage because it felt like the entire group was there just to teach a lesson that the game then immediately subverts in there being no wrong way to Pokemon.

Tierno just wants to dance, and that's fine! Best wishes to him as he follows his dancing heart! Whatshisname wants to fill out the Pokedex! That's an admirable goal, too! That one girl is super obsessed with uncovering the mysteries of Mega Evolution! That's great! Passion is great! Pokemon is a living, breathing world where anyone can grow up to be anything!

Except you, the player. You still have the predestined and unalterable end goal of doing the eight gyms + four elites and Being The Very Best Like No One Ever Was, because this is a Pokemon game and there's no "ignore plot" button for you.

Also, I'm with xyzzysqrl in that there's Tierno and there's, what, three or four other kids? Whats-her-face? So-and-so? The Ugly One?

[swordianmaster]

I mean, technically there is no wrong way to pokemon but you also have to operate within the programmed parameters.

Please, TPC. Give me a Pokemon DDR game. Also a Pokemon Snap sequel/remake that isn't Pokemon Go, maybe.

Hell, make a pokemon breeding game where your only real goal is eugenics. All the eugenics.

[xyzzysqrl]

Sorry, only Pokken here.

(I personally kinda liked Pokemon Trozei and Lucy Fleetfoot's weird art style.)

[kjorteo]

Pokemon dating sim when

[xyzzysqrl]

EASY MODE: Your favorite furbait pokemon.
MEDIUM MODE: A random bird, one of the starters.
HARD MODE: Nosepass, Geodude, Electrode, Trubbish.
IMPOSSIBLE MODE: Wobuffet.

[kjorteo]

Wobbuffet's easy. Impossible mode would be Jynx.

[swordianmaster]

Nonsense, Jynx is the one pokemon that Brock actually laid!

wait. that episode is banned.

Impossible Mode is obviously trying to seduce pokégod.

[kjorteo]

Immortal omnipotent llama x a fence OTP

And it's not whether I could get lucky with Jynx so much as whether I'd want to. That episode is banned from my heart.

[penguinmayhem]

No but see Wobuffet would just sit there doing nothing and then mercilessly reflect all of your attempts to charm it. You would have to think outside the box and get super crafty to sneak past its defense and make it realize that it only behaves like this because it's using sass and an aggressively outgoing attitude to conceal its own crushing sense of inadequacy.

And then you have to fight the manifestation of its own existential nightmare and defeat it with the power of motivational speaking.

[penguinmayhem]

As an aside, can I just say I fucking love Hau because he absolutely positively does not give a shit no matter what gets thrown in his face. This kid is chill. This kid takes it on the chin and keeps going. This kid doesn't even flinch when some smug self-important douchebag starts swinging his "YEAH YOU'RE ALL JUST LOSERS AND I BET YOU'RE GONNA CRY" all over the scene.

Hau's default reaction to you kicking his ass is "awesome, now I'm gonna go eat my own body weight in fried dough, later!"

[kjorteo]

This Pokemon/Princess Remedy crossover just got weird.