This is a really beautiful game that pushes the 3DS' hardware to its limits and bring some welcome changes like getting rid of minor annoyances such as the double confirmation required to learn any new move. I also really like the new Pokémon designs, like Rockruff, Mudsdale and the introduction of Region Forms. It is great that HMs are finally gone, too. Gone are the times where you need to catch an HM slave so that you can progress in the game.
Nonetheless, the graphical and QoL improvements are not enough to make a good game, unfortunately. The trial systems, while harboring good intentions, are not as iconic as the gym battles, and they don't actually serve as good pacing tools like gyms do. This game's story drags and drags a LOT, and most of the time I felt that it wasn't even about the MC: you're just watching the story of Lillie and her family while battling some dudes and Pokémon here and there. The environments lack variety, mostly relying on grassy plains, cave variations and rocky/sandy beaches. The new gimmick, Z Moves, is a fun new addition with new, amazing animation sequences... that is, if you can handle seeing unskippable cutscenes every time you use them (trust me, they get boring after a couple times).
It is also clear that Game Freak was getting used to a new way of making the level design of Pokémon, different from the top down-ish pattern of the 2D games and XY, which despite being 3D games also followed it. The world is now fully designed with full 3D movement in mind, removing the "blocky" movement from the previous 8-direction limited generation. Movement is great in Ultra Sun, but the level design doesn't follow it quite yet, as the developers did not figure how to translate the route-to-route progress quite that well yet to this new dynamic.
TL;DR - Beautiful game that drags and really shouldn't be telling the kind of story it tells; many long requested QoL improvements accompanied by poor map/level design, frame drops, and interesting but problematic inclusions such as Z Moves and the Trial system.
Nonetheless, the graphical and QoL improvements are not enough to make a good game, unfortunately. The trial systems, while harboring good intentions, are not as iconic as the gym battles, and they don't actually serve as good pacing tools like gyms do. This game's story drags and drags a LOT, and most of the time I felt that it wasn't even about the MC: you're just watching the story of Lillie and her family while battling some dudes and Pokémon here and there. The environments lack variety, mostly relying on grassy plains, cave variations and rocky/sandy beaches. The new gimmick, Z Moves, is a fun new addition with new, amazing animation sequences... that is, if you can handle seeing unskippable cutscenes every time you use them (trust me, they get boring after a couple times).
It is also clear that Game Freak was getting used to a new way of making the level design of Pokémon, different from the top down-ish pattern of the 2D games and XY, which despite being 3D games also followed it. The world is now fully designed with full 3D movement in mind, removing the "blocky" movement from the previous 8-direction limited generation. Movement is great in Ultra Sun, but the level design doesn't follow it quite yet, as the developers did not figure how to translate the route-to-route progress quite that well yet to this new dynamic.
TL;DR - Beautiful game that drags and really shouldn't be telling the kind of story it tells; many long requested QoL improvements accompanied by poor map/level design, frame drops, and interesting but problematic inclusions such as Z Moves and the Trial system.
3 Comments
The thing with BW is that GF struck a thin balance between story exposition and gameplay/player agency. There are moments of plain character exposition with N, but they are not nearly as frequent and as big as in Ultra Sun. Because of that, in my opinion, the game flows much more smoothly and doesn't drag at all. I also think that N as a character and the message of BW are way better than those of Ultra Sun, so it helps. I never felt that the player character was a side character in BW, though. A good chunk of the main story puts the player as an active agent of change in the plot as a whole, like in the Zekrom/Reshiram & the hero myth, which is not the case in Ultra Sun tbh, since the legendary Pokemon is attached to Lillie in the whole game. I don't think that BW are the most interesting games because they're focused on other characters per se, but more because of the themes it brings to the table. But yeah, N is a great character.
@junie true, s/m are very good
fascinator
1 year ago