Pokemon Moon thoughts

The OFFICIAL Caveman Pokemon Moon probably spoiler pastebin!!!

	I will be honest, I did think making gen 7 was a bit premature, as I really enjoyed XY and was not blown away by ORAS; I thought there could have been more to gen 6, even an XY2 if not Z. BUT I have to say that the primary (up to champion) game of Sun/Moon was way better than I expected it to be. Felt like a real coming of age adventure with lots of cool pokes and mechanics.

	It's funny though, for every pro there is a corresponding con. The story, while pretty good, forces the game to follow a linear path. I don't really give a shit because I liked it, but after like, vermillion in the original games you could start to do gyms in whatever order you wanted; there is a tradeoff you need to make between open world and narrative focus. But its fuckin pokemon who cares lol.

	Another example, I thought the writing was really funny, especially the pokedex entries, and most of the characters were really endearing (when Lillie left for Kanto I had feels). On the other hand, FUCKING ROTOM! How long has Rotom been able to talk anyway? They basically gave you a permanent annoying anime sidekick to be lel funneh for the whole game.

	I did enjoy Team Skull, they were pretty funny. None of the trainers were particularly threatening, even Guzma, however they totally-not-evil-omg-what-a-twist Aether Foundation was pretty cool. Saw it coming the moment I met them, but I'm sure it was an entertainig twist to 5 year olds.

	The difficulty was just right in my opinion. Yes, exp share is back. Personally I like exp share, as I always made a full team casually anyway, this just cuts the time grinding significantly for me, but it does unarguably make the game easier. Also, you get a mini map this time around that tells you exactly where to go at all times. Of course, I would like to think that at my level of competence I don't think I will have much difficulty beating a pokemon game. At the end of the game, the stronger trainers do catch up to you in level. It would probably be pretty even throughout if you don't bother raising your pokemon's affection.

	Which brings me to pokemon refresh. It is easier than ever to raise your pokes affection, especially with the post battle grooming and status healing you can do to get free hearts. Also, unlike pokepuffs from gen 6, poke beans quite literally grow on trees, so you can always keep your dudes full. For those who don't bother with it, affection makes your pokes pretty much invincible and was quick to raise it whenever I got one I would keep. You get boosted exp (like traded pokes do), and higher levels give benefits like randomly evading attacks, healing status effects, boosting crit rate, and surviving hits that would kill otherwise. basically if you brush your pokemons hair after battles every now and then the game is much easier. I looks like they did get rid of O-powers though, so whatever.

	They brought back dress up and character customization! ORAS got rid of it and it was one of my favorite things about XY so I'm glad to see it back. Time to spend millions of pokebucks to collect all the cute clothes.

	They took gen 6 criticisms a little too far though. Too much water in ORAS? Well guess what, in the games that take place in a fucking archipelago there is virtually no water. Maybe I was the one guy who liked surf routes so it was pretty jarring to me. Also, were you disapointed that gen 6 only introduced 1 new bug species? Well gen 7 is the game for you, as they introduced a bevy of bugs ranging from pretty good to fucking broken (wtf is Pheromosa, seriously bug deoxys?). Also I really don't like new fishing.

	Ride pokemon are awesome. They replaced both HM's and utility items like the bike and item finder. No longer needing an HM slave, surfer, or flyer lets you be more creative with your team than previously possible. Not a fan of the stupid safety gear you have to wear though. I spend all my money on cute outfits let me wear them on my Stoutland please.

	Z-moves. I like them to be honest. They made cool cinematic finishing moves on bosses and the like, while not being as game changing as mega evolutions. Competitively I think they will mostly be used like gen 5 gems; a one time nuke to take out a specific check or to patch up your coverage. Gimmicky sure, but they will be something you have to look out for as every pokemon in the game can use them. Obviously the standard lefties/choice/orb will be far more ubiquitous, but a surprize z hp ice to take out a landorus or something could be pretty cool. Also, you can Z power boosting moves or utility moves, but I dont have much experience with those other than lol z splash.

	You probably want to shell out for a new 3ds to play this. I was on an older 3ds xl and there was noticable lag and long loading times.

	I made the comparison to Trunks fighting Perfect Cell already on twitter, but for real, most of the new pokemon follow the design philosophy of like, base 0 speed but 1 million attack stats. You don't feel it much in the normal game, as all of the opposing pokemon are just as slow, but I think a lot of gen 7 pokes are gonna have a hard time competitively. Also, maybe it was just my team, but god damn they learn like no moves? Which leads me to my team and their overall performance.

Incineroar: Picked as my starter because its a pro wrestler obviously. It's ok. dark/fire, while doing no favors for it defensively (which didnt come up much oddly enough. xy greninja was suffering due to all the blackbelts) it does give it decent coverage and is about as strong as it needs to be to do work, especially with its unique z-move. You will be stuck with darkest lariat and fucking fire fang (seriously, no fire punch?) for a while until it learns flare blitz toward the end, but it does get access to a lot of boosting moves like work up, bulk up, and swords dance throughout the game ensuring that it can sweep on its own. I think generally it will fall on the lower end of fire starters like emboar, but it is pretty cool.

Raichu: this thing actually has a lot going for it. Being able to catch it as a pichu early on lets you get access to fucking NASTY PLOT at level 13 (I assume you can luck out and get a light ball, but i didnt). Pokemon festival ensures you can boost its happiness up really early too. I had mine evolve at 13 so it got nasty plot as pichu, evolved, and got electro ball as pikachu. Pikachu will naturally be faster than everything else at the time, so electro ball can carry you until you get the tm for charge beam, and nasty plot gives you much needed killing power because you are still a weak ass pikachu. You also get grass knot tm early on so you can kill mudbray and the like. There is a tutor for free volt tackle mid way though the game, and you get a unique z move to go with it thats strong as fuck (210 power) and you can buy thunderstones pretty easily in the same town. I waited till I learned discharge to evolve mind and it learned psychic at the same time (you do get a tm for psychic earlier so it would have it anyway) if you can get thunderbolt, raichu gets a unique z move as well. Also of course has access to twave and nuzzle to help out with catching new mons. Now for the cons. It is still a fucking raichu. it is made of paper and it is never quite as strong as you need it to be. Its ability is literally useless and i would have preferred to keep static. For the purposes of the game electric/psychic is not great coverage and just adds common weaknesses. it outspeeds most things and yeah its good, but it never really stood out because i also had...

Ribombee: this thing is pretty much just a better raichu. Possibly my teams mvp, it could do literally everything. it has the same base spatk as alolan raichu, but it gets useful and powerful moves way earlier. bug buzz/pollen puff, dazzling gleam, stun spore, silver wind, draining kiss, aromatherapy, calm mind, roost, psychic, quiver dance ect. its stats are virtually identical to raichus so it is still kinda weak offensively and defensibly, but its type and useful move pool makes it seem much stronger than it is on paper. Also shield dust is a much better ability than whatever raichus is. Quiver dancing on fake outs was pretty funny. I think this thing is legit good. Probably wont be able to hang in OU but I wouldnt be shocked at all if it made waves in other metagames. Also has a cute scarf.

Wishiwashi: ...is this thing a joke? It is so fucking strong lol. It's gimmick is that it has an ability (which only starts working at level 20 which is pretty unique) which lets it go into a strong as shit form with stupid high stats (base 140 attacking stats and base 130 defenses) with the exception of its HP and speed which admittedly suck ass. It reminds me a lot of Archeops but its ability is so much better, only lowering its stats when its hp is below 25% rather than 50. It is exceedingly boring to use though. It had one move, being scald which you get at the same time, my entire playthrough. i was lucky enough to get hidden power ice for some flavor, but i was mostly using scald, which was still strong enough to OHKO everything i needed it to. Also it has to change into its schooled form every time you send it out, which slows the game down a lot (especially for me since im not using a new 3ds). Might see some use competitively as a wall breaker, buts its pretty one dimensional even with its stats. Who knows, its a pretty cool poke though, and always did work when I needed it to.

Mudsdale: Once again, strong as shit and just as slow. This thing was ol reliable for me, always putting dents in things with its high attack stat and high powered moves. High horsepower, which it gets damn near immediately, is basically a slightly, and I do mean slightly, worse earthquake which sees high usage up until it actually learns earthquake. Did not seem to have access to any real utility moves, but it had pretty good ground/rock/fighting/steel coverage for a 4 attack set. You get z crystals for its coverage options way before you get one for ground, so it really helps to patch up the low base power of like, rock tomb for example. Also pretty bulky. Literally any grass knot will send it to the shadow realm, but it can take pretty much any neutral hit comfortably. Also, lol they made a pokemon immune to parafusion if it has own tempo as an ability. I cant see it being used as much more than an attacker, but I bet it would be pretty darn good at that job.

Tsareena: I was originally going to use Formantis because i thought it was cute, but I got the bounsweet you can trade for instead. It comes with an adamant nature and im pretty sure 31 attack evs. This thing is pretty interesting. The traded one comes with leaf guard, but it does have access to a unique ability that makes it immune to priority moves. It has ok defenses and an amazing speed tier of 72 (still slow as hell but base 70 is a very important speed tier in OU). The real highlight is its base 120 attack stat. This thing is STRONG but its held back by the low base power of Trop Kick, although high jump kick helps. Has access to some real interesting and useful moves like rapid spin, u turn, aromatherapy, and the dreaded Z SPLASH. I think this thing could possibly see some usage competitively just because it can do so much. As far as in game goes, it was so good. Already being a traded poke, it had boosted exp on top of the boost i gave it through affection, making sure it caught up to my team in level, and then stayed decently above them for the rest of the game. It had the highest attacking stat of all of my mons, higher than Mudsdale and Wishiwashi, which i attribute to its nature and ev. Also OMG STEENEE IS SO CUTE~ Possibly #1 cute mon, and guess what? ITS USED BY BEST GIRL MALLOW! Great pokemon.

Pokemon i would be interested in using in future playthoughs:
A different starter, obviously. Probably Popplio
Another alolan. Muk, Persian, and Marrowak being at the top of the list
Lycanroc because Rockruff is cute. (Although Moon Lycanroc isnt as good as Sun imo which is a turn off)
Zygarde because I love the idea of collecting bits and pieces of it to power it up through out the game.
Oricorio for kinda the same reason. Being able to change type throughout the game would be really interesting
Salazzle if I could be bothered to find a female one
Lurantis to see how it measures up to Tsareena
Araquanid because spider
Shiinotic because spore would make my life easier. Also its probably pretty good.
Bewear because stufful is cool. I never found one, but I wanted it. Fighting type would be nice too
Crabominable for the same reason
Some sort of ghost because they all look cool

So those are my thoughts on Moon. Fantastic games, highly recommended, fans of pokemon or not. I had a good time through and through and look forward to exploring the post game and catching the broken shit ultra beasts and tapus. I honestly have to say that so far it has been one of the best pokemon games ive played. It does have one glaring flaw though.

STILL NO WAY TO TEACH DEFOG WTF GAMEFREAK BIGGEST CON