"An analysis on the issues in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon (Long Post)"

I decided to write this analysis because I’ve often encountered people who don’t seem to understand why I and many others don’t hold Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon in the same regard as games like Emerald or Platinum, and why in some cases don’t consider them an objective upgrade from Sun and Moon.This isn’t meant maliciously, and isn’t intended to change anyone’s opinion on anything. I simply wanted to express my own personal viewpoint because of how often I see the previous two questions challenged with confusion or disbelief.Lusamine’s character butcheringAdmittedly I’m not the only one to point this out, plenty of others have already. It's pretty much the one thing that even the most avid fans of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon agree was absolutely butchered in the transition from Sun and Moon. If you feel like you’ve already read enough about how much worse Lusamine is in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, feel free to skip to the next subheading.Lusamine’s actions in these games are incredibly callous and cruel, yet the game hand waves them near the end as if they’re somehow fine. Let's make a list of the things Lusamine did and authorized.She mentally abused her daughter by forcibly making her dress up as Nihilego (except in USUM’s case where the reason for her being forced to dress that way is unexplained, since Lusamine’s obsession is beating Necrozma, not the Ultra Beasts, and the games heavily imply there is no Nihilego influence of any kind)She authorised the creation of Type:Full to combat the Ultra Beasts/Necrozma (depending on the version), and then allowed them to be cryogenically frozen after they were deemed failures.She cryogenically froze other random Pokemon that she liked (Which again is unexplained in USUM because her motivation is no longer being obsessed with being a mother figure or caretaker to all Pokemon and Ultra Beasts, but instead being strong and beating Necrozma)Funded and enabled Team Skull to keep causing chaos while pretending to oppose them. Specifically she also emotionally manipulated Guzma, who gets too easily attached to people who he thinks respect his strength.She kidnaps Cosmog and causes it enough pain to make it open an Ultra Wormhole. Beforehand she also acknowledges that it will almost certainly die because of this, which only ends up not happening because of plot armour.Now of course, these are all horrible things. But that’s good, right? We want to hate the villains, so they should obviously be doing nefarious things, right?It's not the actions themselves that make Lusamine a bad character in USUM (as in poorly written, not evil), its the motivations (or nonexistent motivations that is) and reaction to these actions from the people around her that are bad.Lillie’s reaction to Lusamine’s actions in these games is incredibly stupid, and honestly seems kind of backwards. In fact, her actions in both games seem like they should be switched.In the game where Lusamine’s inhibitions were removed by Nihilego causing her to do things she might not otherwise have done, Lillie scolds and condemns her. On the other hand, in the game where everything Lusamine does was done of her own volition (which includes things even worse than in the original Sun and Moon which I’ll elaborate on in the next section.), Lillie is extremely quick to forgive her and gladly heads back to the foundation with her.Of course, all “third versions” of the past have only made major changes to the climax, and left most events before that the same. (Or third and fourth versions in this case because Gamefreak didn’t want to make a single concise game like they previously did) That said the changes to the climax have always worked with what was previously established and felt natural. In Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon’s case, the changes they wanted to make were clearly incompatible with the original narrative and ended up creating lots of contradictions and leave many things unexplained in this version of the story.The giant plot hole that makes Lusamine’s actions even worseAs if that wasn’t enough, the story gets even worse. There is an absolutely gigantic plot hole that renders everything from the beginning of the game until the point where Lusamine and Guzma head to Ultra Space for the first time COMPLETELY meaningless.Lusamine establishes that the reason she needed Cosmog was so she could use it to go to Ultra Space. In Sun and Moon, this is absolutely fine.However, the Ultra Recon squad are introduced in USUM as working for Lusamine. Near the climax of the game, the player needs to head to Ultra Megalopolis, but seem to have no way to do so. Then the Ultra Recon squad offhandedly reveal they’ve actually owned a Solgaleo/Lunala (Solgaleo in Moon/Lunala in Sun) the entire time. In fact, it was what they used to get into Alola in the first place.…Surely I can’t be the only one seeing the gigantic, gaping problem here? Let me remind you, the Recon Squad only started to realise Lusamine had purely selfish goals during the Aether Foundation raid after you beat them outside her room. Before that they were loyally working for her. So this entire time, Lusamine’s lackeys had a Legendary capable of traveling to Ultra Space and creating wormholes, but didn’t use it? This only makes her treatment of Cosmog even more cruel, since there was another much easier option available the entire time. I’m not sure how the writers missed this. Maybe they didn’t miss it, but just didn't care. We’ll probably never know.The wasting of the empty lotsGames like Ruby/Sapphire and Diamond/Pearl had plot threads that were clear hints for things that would come after, sure. For example, the tablet behind Giratina in Turnback cave in Diamond and Pearl clearly states it is “a place where two worlds overlap” I never had a problem with this. But never once did they do something as egregious as the empty lots in Sun and Moon. Multiple areas added to the map with no other purpose than to sequel bait. They were added exclusively so you’d buy the next games and see what they’d do with them. Maybe I’m being pedantic here, but I take a lot less issue with adding some foreshadowing text to an area that already has a purpose than I do with adding multiple objects with no purpose. And the awfulness of the lots is only exemplified further, because it seems as if Gamefreak added them before they even decided what they wanted to do with them in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.Out of the 8 empty lots, only 6 of them actually amounted to anything. Both Tapu Villages and Seafolk Villages lots were left untouched, with Seafolk’s building materials STILL there.The remaining 6 are as follows:Heahea City’s was renovated into a Mantine surf house. Its ONLY purpose is for a guy to give you a surfing Pikachu once you get a certain high score. There is nothing else in it.Route 15’s is another Mantine surf house. There are two NPC’s inside who don’t give you anything. The house serves no purpose. There is a Totem Sticker stuck on the outside of it, but they could have stuck it onto the lumber and there would be no difference.Hau’oli’s was turned into an Alola Photoclub. Despite my absolute apathy for the feature, it is admittedly one of the biggest things they added in USUM so dedicating a building to it is completely reasonable.That said, they decided one wasn’t enough and decided to make the Konikoni lot another Alola Photoclub. It serves the exact same purpose as the Hau’oli lot, and is a literal copy paste of it other than the fact that Hau’oli’s club has a lone Comfey npc who gives you nothing, while Konikoni’s has a Bellossom and Tourist who give you nothing. I’m not kidding when I say a literal copy paste, they even both have the same lady NPC who tells you whether your Pokemon is from a different region or not.Maile City’s lot was renovated into the Kantonian Gym which on paper sounds fun. That said despite being called a “Gym”, for whatever reason there isn’t actually a puzzle, and it is functionally IDENTICAL to the Battle Buffet in Hau’oli which was already in Sun and Moon. It simply serves as another “pay to battle trainers once a day” thing.Royal Avenue’s lot was renovated into the Alola Photo Fan club. There are 3 NPC’s inside, one of which will rate your Pokemon’s happiness. Otherwise it serves no purpose.I would like to clarify that these buildings aren’t inherently shitty. Every Pokemon game has buildings with NPC’s that offer nothing in it. It's all about the context. These weren’t just buildings found in the original paired versions, they were teased for an entire year and ended up being nothing for the most part. Additions this minimal and shitty shouldn’t be used as reason why you buy an updated release.The focus on more Z moves over other more interesting mechanicsI really don’t like Z- moves. I will never understand Gamefreak’s need to add a new gimmick each generation. They struck gold with Mega Evolution, and it seems like they’re desperatly trying to recapture that magic. There are people out there who don’t like Mega's, and that's absolutely fine. But at the base level they’re a brand new design (In 95% of cases. The Lati's and Kangaskhan are the exceptions) with new stats and a new ability.On the other hand, Z-Moves at the base level are OBNOXIOUS UNSKIPPABLE ONE MINUTE CUTSCENES with stupid names. Most of the ones they actually spent time on are brainless nukes. The only ones that require any strategy are the status Z-moves, which are actually pretty good but aren't the ones they spent an unnecessary amount of time on.Alola forms, Generation 7’s other new gimmick was also a really good addition. Sort of like a different take on Mega Evolution, old Pokemon were brought back with a new design and type. Most of them were really cool and interesting, barring a few stinkers. Yet these too were shafted in favour of making more minute long Z-moves in USUM.Out of the 10 new additions Pokemon wise they DID introduce, 5 are new forms while 5 are new species entirely.With the new forms, only one of these is a Pokemon capable of being considered original or creative. I actually really like Ultra Necrozma, it's got a really cool creative and its fight is actually difficult!The other 4 consist of:A new Hat Pikachu, who is IDENTICAL to the 6 hat Pikachu’s introduced in Sun and Moon only with a different texture on the hat. It doesn’t have any different moves, stats or abilities.Dusk Lycanroc, who is Midday Lycanroc with Midnight’s hair and a tint change. This is so disappointing to me. They could have done so much creative stuff with it, like giving it a stance change esque ability that allowed it to change between all fours and standing upright that changed its stats around, but instead they went with the literal laziest thing possible and acted like it was a huge selling point. The laziness didn’t even stop with the design, its stats are almost identical to Middays, only they took 2 points from its speed and put them into attack.The fact that the game desperately tries to claim that Dusk Mane and Dawn Wings Necrozma are fusions in a similar vein to Kyurem’s fusions is hilarious to me. Kyurem’s fusions actually changed the physical body of both Pokemon involved and created unique, monstrous designs that truly looked like an incomplete forced fusion should. Necrozma’s “fusions” literally slap its body parts on the top of Solgaleo and Lunala and call it a day. And we’re not even done. Kyurem’s fusions actually gave Kyurem a stat boost when fused, giving both forms separate utility from base Kyurem itself and each other. Necrozma doesn’t get that same privilege. Instead its stats are similar to the host Pokemon’s but shuffled around a bit, along with the ability Prism Armour. In the case of Dawn Wings Necrozma, it is just objectively worse than both Lunala and Dusk Mane. There is no reason to use it for any reason other than transforming it into Ultra Necrozma.Out of the remaining 5 new species, 4 are normally attainable Pokemon. I admittedly think they are solid enough. No problems with them. The fifth however, is an event exclusive Pokemon who currently still isn’t available. Of course this isn’t a problem exclusive to USUM, I dislike the entire event Pokemon thing in general. But it's just another issue in a sea of them in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.CORRIDOR DUNGEONSAdmittedly the dungeon design has been going downhill since XY, USUM isn’t the first game with lacklustre dungeons. That said, with exceptions being Rainbow Rockets Castle, almost all the other new dungeons introduced in these games are a corridor with almost nothing going on.The Ultra Space's being corridors absolutely kills me.This is the ultimate goddamn tease for me specifically. Maybe you personally aren’t annoyed about this, but I sure am. I absolutely LOVE alternate dimensions as a concept in fiction. It's probably one of my favourite narrative elements a fictional universe can explore. Platinum flirted with this concept with its Distortion World, and that WAS fun, but it was brief.Sun and Moon disappointed me because despite Ultra Space being central to the plot, the trip there was extremely short, even shorter than the trip to the Distortion world despite that being less relevant to Sinnoh’s plot. We ended up only getting to see a tiny corridor.So to hear during the pre-release that we'd be able to travel to even more alternate worlds, INCLUDING a parallel world where the light had been STOLEN, excited me to no end.Of course, what we got was incredibly light on anything resembling exploration. Ultra Megalopolis being barren and blocked off even after the defeat of Necrozma is unforgivable. The fact that they thought adding a line about how the people inside look happy if you talk to one of the buildings would be a suitable substitute for getting to actually explore and talk to more alternate world people is insulting.The backgrounds of the Ultra Jungle and Ultra Plant look miles more interesting than the bare corridors we get to explore, and that is incredibly depressing to me.Rotom DexI genuinely cannot believe they somehow managed to make the Rotom Dex even worse. One of my major complaints from the original Sun and Moon was the Rotom Dex, and everytime a discussion on improvements for USUM was brought up I mentioned the Rotom Dex, because I naturally thought it was a guarantee.Yet, they defied my expectations and not only didn’t improve anything about it, they managed to make it WORSE.They introduced Roto-Lotto, which is a worse version of the O-Powers and Pass Powers present in previous generations. The Rotom Powers are obtained at random, and if you want to do the lotto in the first place you have to tap through all of Rotom’s dialogue of which he has even MORE than in the original Sun and Moon. The annoying prick is constantly asking you annoying questions you have to answer before you can do the lotto and just being the most unlikable cretin to ever grace this franchise with his HILARIOUS dialogue.“Time for some more advice that you didn’t ask for!”Is that supposed to be funny? Is that a joke? Or are Gamefreak well aware of how bloody annoying it is and just trying to rub it in? It can’t be an accident. There’s no way they were unaware of how annoying it is.On top of this, every time you encounter a Pokemon you haven’t seen before Rotom does an annoying 2 second animation that adds LITERALLY nothing to the gameplay. It is exclusively a waste of time.ConclusionThese are mostly the main points. Of course, USUM didn't ONLY introduce awful things. There are a few diamonds in the rough, like the previously stated Ultra Necrozama, the new music tracks and the majority of the Rainbow Rocket Episode.Its just compared to games like Emerald, Platinum and Black and White 2, it introduced many more things I actively hated and don't consider to be a strict upgrade.In the case of Emerald and Platinum, they are objective upgrades. You'd be hard pressed to find a reason to play Ruby or Diamond over them.BW2's case is a little different, due to being sequels. Even still, on the gameplay side they are objectivity an upgrade and the sheer amount of post-game content they added was truly impressive. The only real objective thing you could say was worse is the story, but unlike USUM it wasn't a different take on the same story, it was an actual sequel.Anyway, if you actually bothered to read this whole thing I really appreciate it. I enjoy writing out detailed explanations of my opinion like this. I'd like to hear what you thought of it. Please feel free to point out any grammatical or spelling errors, that only ever helps me improve. via /r/pokemon https://ift.tt/2IxwPUg