Pokemon Sun/Moon: A departure

Greetings and Merry Christmas to you all, dear fellow gamers! I've been writing about general gaming matters since the beginning of december, and you may wonder if I've been playing any game at all during that time. Well, the answer is yes: as a matter of fact, I've been pretty engrossed by a single game these last weeks, and that game is none other than the newly released Pokemon Sun. I've been polishing off two playthroughs of it already, and run reports are very much in the pipeline. But for the time being, I want to write about my overall impression of the game and analyze the many changes it packs in its tiny cartridge. Without further ado, let's dissect the newest Pokemon beast together! (Slight SPOILERS ahead!)

The Sun/Moon pair means a lot to me, because they are the first brand-new Pokemon entries released since I discovered the series in 2014. I've been waiting and pinning for them with a lot of trepidation and anticipation; and oh boy, did they gloriously fulfill my expectations. I can proudly claim that Sun and Moon are my favourite Pokemon entries ever and that insular Alola managed to charm and enrapture me like no other Pokemon region ever did. Heck, cruising through Alola even awakened in me an overwhelming desire to visit its real-life inspiration and gorge on deliciously real malasadas.

The early stages of my exploration of Sun, however, were not that glorious: in fact, my initial feelings about the Alolan entries were lukewarm at best. The excessive linearity, constant hand-holding and abundance of cutscenes were a shock to my system, and I think the only reason I was able to soldier through the first hours of the game without ditching it entirely before writing a scathing review was because my levels of energy were still quite low at the time and could thus accommodate an overbearing game. And that's all for the best, because once I managed to accept that this was the newest Pokemon fashion and got fully used to it, I fell head over heels in love with Alola. I love the rural insular setting of that new region and the fact that it sports no huge and confusing city like entries from generations V and VI. I love the fact that Alola is so cosy and welcoming, with a nice variety of pint-sized landscapes that don't take hours to explore. I love the gentle atmosphere and the fact that the locals are so hell-bent on collaborating and welcoming a complete stranger like me. Feeling like a foreigner and being routinely challenged by locals in a slightly antagonistic way in former Pokemon entries was a thrilling experience, but I definitely prefer the comfy, heartwarming and welcoming vibe of Sun and Moon, in which every NPC treats me as an important part of the community. (Of course, it certainly doesn't hurt that one of the local Guardian Deities entrusted me with a Sparkling Stone that let me use D-moves five minutes after I set foot on Alola, thus making me a kahuna in all but name, now does it?) I love this friendliness so much that I simply cannot help but go out of my way to chat with every single NPC in Alola.

Given that Alolans are so open and friendly, it makes perfect sense that the game won't pit you against a hot-blooded rival this time around. For all the wild speculations on the internet regarding the rival matter—going from the notion that your character is actually supposed to play the role of the rival towards Hau to the idea that your real and true rival is Professor Kukui—we have to face the truth here: there is no traditional rival in Pokemon Sun and Moon. Hau is way too friendly to be a rival, all the more so as he chooses the starter that's weak against your own. Gladion appears too unfrequently to be considered a true rival and has his own goals that have nothing to do with becoming the strongest trainer around. As for Professor Kukui, he fights you only once and does so as the resident champion. Sun and Moon take away the good old rival figure and replace it with a variety of antagonists that fight you for various reasons and are nowhere near as aggressive and determined to beat the crap out of you as the rivals of old. And boy, is that refreshing. As much as I enjoyed showing over-confident pricks à la Barry who was the boss, I relish this change of pace in all things rivalry.

The resident villain team was also treated to a much-needed makeover. Let's face it: although they are initially designed to be threatening, villain teams always come across as foolish and slightly pathetic. Game Freak seem to have noticed this pattern and taken it in their stride; this time around, they created a team of villains that were very blatantly designed as laughing stocks, with hilarious behaviours and one-liners that bring a lot of humour into the game. On the other hand, they introduced a villain team in disguise in the shape of the Aether Foundation employees, whose rigid ethos and self-righteous behaviours, constant meddling and too pristine outfits are bound to elicit unease and suspicion—which turn out to be totally justified. It is later revealed that the two teams work hand in hand for very mundane reasons; and although they do some harm over the course of the game, neither of them are as inherently evil and rotten as teams from former entries, which is a welcome change of tone.

That leads us to the story, which is considerably more fleshed-out than your usual Pokemon romp. No more "take that pokedex and become the strongest trainer out there", no more teams of villains with murky and far-fetched motives; this time, your trainer gets to interact with characters that have believable goals and sound reasons to act the way they do. Sun and Moon's storyline is surprisingly grounded and well put together, and all the characters turn out to be pleasantly relatable. Instead of dealing with guru-like team leaders that want to get their paws on godly 'Mons for purposes unfathomable to anyone but themselves, we are confronted with a slightly insane wealthy woman who collects pokemons she deems perfect for her own selfish enjoyment. In a region so intent on cooperating and helping one another as Alola, this comes across as the ultimate treason and a potentially dangerous behaviour that must be stopped at any cost—and that's obviously a job for your trainer, along with many helpers. I was very fond of that simple yet well-constructed story, although I could have done with slightly less cutscenes and hand-holding along the way, as well as a trifle less linearity. This is the first Pokemon entry in which the story moves you forward instead of the opposite, and I cannot help but feel a bit sorry for all the players whose primary purpose is the hunting and breeding of 'Mons and who must endure heavy amounts of narrative to reach the next area in line.

I can't avoid mentioning the biggest change of them all, namely the ousting of Gyms. The streamlined and compact Gym structure with its unmovable eight milestones has been replaced by the much looser Trial structure. The core goal is still the same, i.e. fighting strong Trainers and 'Mons and ultimately getting the upper hand as well as an item that will prove your victory beyond any doubt; however, Trials have a much more roundabout way to lead you towards that goal. They come in all shapes and sizes, involve a wide variety of endeavours and are scattered around the islands in uneven numbers. All this makes them much more unpredictable than the Gyms of old and thus quite refreshing for veteran players. Although I slightly miss the thrill of taking one Gym after the other in an neat and orderly fashion, I have to admit that the Trial structure is a stimulating change of pace that's perfectly suited to the more rural and insular nature of the Alolan region to boot.

What's highly interesting about these changes is that they all target unexpected features and aspects of the series. Pokefans have been calling for many changes over the years, but I was never aware that there were massive pleas to change the Gym system, the rival dynamic or the narrative. All these changes were not only not demanded, but also not inherently needed: Pokemon games just worked fine the way they did and could have kept doing so. These massive changes in areas that were not in dire need of changes can be interpreted as a message from Game Freak, and by extension Nintendo. They are basically telling us that this time, they mean business and are ready to usher a new era. This is consistent with the changes that could be spotted in other upcoming entries of Nintendo IPs, such as the open world of Breath of the Wild, and it's also consistent with the innovative and revolutionary image of the Switch. Nintendo have being consistently accused of resting on their laurels and recycling their old gaming formulas ad nauseam during the whole 3DS and WiiU era, and they obviously want to silence such criticism for good and prove that they can evolve if they put their mind to it. I'm curious—and a bit anxious, I admit—to see where this brand-new direction will lead them; although this could bring some welcome innovations to the fold, I fervently hope that I won't ever have to suffer through an open-world Pokemon instalment.

These were my overall feelings about Sun and Moon, but I'm far from being done with these games, both in playing and writing. I'll see you very soon with more Alolan goodness, dear fellow gamers! Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!