Nintendo Releases Newest Game in the Pokemon Saga

At the very beginning of its advertising, I was interested in the Sun’s new Pokèmon such as Solgaleo, Flygon, Alohan Vulpix, and Ninetails. However, as time progressed I became more interested in Moon. And when I chose the dark side, I was not disappointed as it had features that I felt really added more to the gameplay.

For example, Moon and Sun are set 12 hours apart. This means that during actual daylight, the game plays at night. Originally, I had no idea about this time difference, so I was searching for how to fix this for a rather long time. However, once I realized it was a feature I quickly shifted it to my advantage. Talking realistically, Moon being set during the night allows players to use dusk balls as this type of capture device has a higher success rate at night. This also makes evolving an Eevee into an Umbreon rather easy as you do not have to stay up later than usual hours.

The plot of Moon was thrilling and exciting as the new animation added to the experience, especially as I could customize my character before the cut scenes, allowing for a stronger personal connection to the game. Perhaps that was one of the main reasons I had goosebumps during the battle with the Aether director. Then again, the entire human-possessed-by-Pokèmon-from-another-dimension concept was so unexpected that it alone might have been enough on its own to terrify anyone.

Another thing that I loved was being the first Pokèmon champion of the Alohan region and sitting on the throne. After you first become the champion from defeating Professor Kukui, you will be challenged for your position by someone you just may recognize such as Hau, Sophocles, Gladion, Hapu, Faba, and Professor Kukui. Did I forgot to mention youngster Tristan? He is the trainer that all players basically destroy on route one with their starter, and he is back. For revenge.

From the beginning, I was touched by Hau’s sweetness and display of compassion yet something was off about the character many players automatically assumed was the rival. For starters, he chooses the Pokèmon weaker to your type at the beginning of the game, unlike the traditional you-pick-first-so-I-get-the-advantage behavior that is displayed by every rival players have ever faced. And secondly, he never goes into a fit of anger after losing a battle like previous generation rivals.

I believe the rival of Moon may be Gladion. He definitely behaves like a rival should after a battle, with anger and has the looks as well as a sad backstory that would compel him to rise to the top. Not to mention the fact that the battle music for a challenge against Gladion is competitive, unlike Hau’s which feels more friendly. His Silvally’s type changes to the stronger of your chosen starter, even though he was not present when you chose your first Pokèmon.

Another rival possibility in my mind is Professor Kukui. Not only is he present when you chose your first Pokèmon, but he also battles you at the end of the game with the stronger type to your starter. His battle music is certainly epic enough. The only thing he lacks to the be the rival is lack of sportsmanship.

Refocusing back on ingame features, one thing especially thrilling to me was the fact that avatars and opposing trainers can be seen from behind as they direct their Pokèmon through battle. It adds a sense of realisticness into the game as, previously you would only see the Pokèmon you were fighting without its master behind it. Nothing felt cooler than seeing my completely customized avatar send Pokèmon into battle.

Yet, there were also a few things about the new game that I thought could have been better. The camera positioning was terrible at times, often leaving us in the dark with a strange non adjustable angle. Trainers rarely had this problem in the older generations because the images were mostly two dimensional.

Though I liked the graphics and the new definition of space between two opposing Pokèmon, I had to adjust to the new positioning because the foe’s monster could be hard to see clearly due to the new pixels. This made the image appear sometimes even blurry.

Another flaw in the design was evident when I first booted up the game and every time I boot it up to this day. The main screen lagged for a complete 27 seconds before I finally received a visual. At first thinking something might be damaged in my old pal, my three DS XL I finally realized the game naturally takes a while to load and not just the main screen either.

I am assuming that the error is due to the large amount of data that the game system has to load to produce larger images. The problem is also evident when you send out the legendary Lunala, whom I affectionately named Asriel after the Undertale character Asriel Dreemur.

Whenever you send it out during a battle, its animations are slower than most Pokèmon and the same occurs when you try to pet it in Pokèmon refresh. Hint, Asriel likes being petted around his lunar head. This data lag is also the case during a double battle when you send out your two Pokèmon, yet in this case for some reason the music and timing of the Pokèballs make the lag somewhat satisfying.

Another thing that really upset me was the cost of mega stones. In the past, gamers went on somewhat of a scavenger hunt to find the stone they needed to transform their Pokè pal into a stronger form and the only exception to this was the Venusaurite, Blastoisinite, Charizardite X and Charizard Y all of which could be bought for a large amount of in game currency. In Moon, you can easily find all the mega stones at the Battle Tree vendor but the cost of each stone is a startling 64 battle points.

Even though there were a few things that I felt should have been improved before the game was released, Moon did edit several of older generation features that some players felt were not as  useful. One of these fixes include the combination of settings on the Pokèmon center computer. Wherelese in the previous generations the computer would ask you if you wanted to deposit, withdraw, or move Pokèmon the computer, Moon skips the question completely and moves directly to the move Pokèmon setting. This is because move Pokèmon offers the player basically the same features as withdraw and deposit in one setting, making the transaction easier and more effective.

Pokèmon Moon offered players a great chance to experience Aloha during the darker hours and enjoy the region under the beautiful moon and there are plenty of new powerful Pokèmon to raise and train such as Salazzle, midnight form Lycanroc and the lovable Pyukumuku. Inside the three-DS cartridge I found an adventure that I always remember as the action-packed game of Pokèmon Moon.