I just picked up both Sun and Moon today. Initial thoughts (okay, more like gripes):
1. 45 minutes into the game before I get my first 10 Pokeballs. On the second game, it took me 33 minutes instead of 45. I remember the days of Red/Blue and it only taking 8-12 minutes before you got your Pokedex and your Pokeballs and they let you PLAY THE GAME.
2. 3 hours into Sun and I'm apparently still running the freakin' Tutorial despite having caught my first 9 mons. How long IS THIS THING!?
3. So, they give me a Pokedex right away, but not Pokeballs... Then after they let me have free reign (for a little bit... basically enough time to fill up my party and get a few levels for the next fight) they throw me into another section where they give me an "upgraded" Pokedex. Why? Why didn't I just get the full Pokedex when you gave it to me the first time? From a design standpoint, this is freakin' silly. From a player standpoint, I have to question the Professor since he flat out told me, "oh yeah, the plan was always to have this Rotom in your Pokedex, but I didn't have the parts in when I gave it to you, so let me just fix it". So... he gave me A DEFECTIVE POKEDEX!? And he hoped I wouldn't notice?! Well, okay, I didn't. Not until he was like, "hey, now I can fix your defective hunk of junk". Then, I was a little miffed.
3. The game is creeping me out. Everyone has a very "Stepford Smiler" appearance and attitude in Alola. It's very much like watching an episode of Barney The Dinosaur or something, where everyone just has perpetual smiles plastered to their faces and spout endless platitudes. I realize at 31, I'm probably not the intended audience for some of this stuff... But, I don't remember the games being like this before... Not even in White and Black. They really weren't in the original Red/Blue either... I'm hoping this vibe dissipates as I move through the game. I don't necessarily want it to be "dark", but I'd like it to feel SOMEWHAT realistic. You know, like someone on the writing staff has interacted with real people before and had real conversations. As of my 3 hours of gameplay... It's.... unsettling.
4. I'm finding it difficult to like Hau or Lillie. I really liked Hau in the demo... but in the main game... I'm... having some issues with not being insanely annoyed by him.
5. I didn't appreciate being locked out of even "Game Sync" until 3 hours later when I'd done enough of the tutorial (and captured everything on Route 1) that it decided to finally unlock all my online features. Honestly, once I got them... I was a bit sad. I rather liked the way X and Y handled it where I could trade anywhere and such... not this "go to a plaza" thing they've put in here now. It feels very "gimmicky" and like I wouldn't use anything in it until I'd beaten the game. Well, except the trade and battle other people features. Why are these weird shops and other nonsense here? It feels very "tacked on" to me.
6. I still really don't like the whole "can only move with the joystick" thing. I have one of the first 3DS handhelds they released (got it when the things came out), so my joystick is... well... it's got a lot of resistance on it. Even after I "broke it in". Couple that with the material it's made out of, and it's sometimes difficult to use it if I've been playing a while, because standard finger oils can make it too slick to use with any sort of precision. It's not a fun experience using my joystick to move around. I have a D-Pad, why can't I use that? Well, maybe I can, I dunno. It might be in the options and I haven't looked yet.
Okay, things I like so far:
1. I love this overhead map thing. I also love that you can click it, zoom in, zoom out, look through the locations and such. I like it, it's neat, and it's helpful for me to remember where I am and what I'm doing. I also like that there are some waypoints on it. Not sure they're necessary, but I like that they are there, in case I didn't know where I needed to be (which is something that has happened to me quite frequently in some of the games where I might not have played them for a year or more).
2. I like this game's version of Amie. Not a fan of the "can remove negative status effects" portion of that, but I enjoy the rest of it. Not sure why, but I just like interacting with my Pokémon this way. Makes them feel more alive and like I'm more immersed in the world.
3. I love the way the Pokedex works now. Something evolves, you get sent immediately to the entry to read it. I can't express how great that is in my opinion. I also love how it displays the Pokémon (especially when you capture or evolve them and it shows you the blank circles for ones you don't yet have). For me, personally, this is a VAST improvement over previous designs.
4. I like the new features of combat where it tells you when things are effective or not. It's nice to have this information on hand, especially if you can't remember what type a particular Pokémon is at any given moment.
5. I like that "running shoes" are no longer a thing. You can run from the moment the game gives you control. Inside. Outside. Anywhere. Hold B, you can run. Seriously, I love this feature and I don't know why it was always handicapped before now.
6. I like that the Day/Night cycle has returned... with... wait for it... POKEMON THAT ONLY APPEAR DURING CERTAIN TIMES OF THE DAY! I can't tell you how much I've missed this feature. Swapping back and forth from Sun and Moon version will throw me for a while, I think, due to them taking place 12 hours apart... But, the day/night cycle is nice and I'm glad it's back. Gives me a reason to play during all different hours of the day instead of just "when I got time". Which is usually late at night.
7. I think I've noticed "diminishing returns" again this time out for XP earned. As in, the higher the level gap, the less XP you get from it. I was never really a fan of this in... was it Black and White that did it? But, given what I went through with X and Y and being 20 levels above the last gym leader and then 35 above the entire Elite Four... I'm welcoming a little bit of challenge back into the game. Along with reasonable levels again for my mons.
8. Everything about capturing new Pokémon. Oh, your party is full and you caught a new one. Do you want to send it to a box or immediately replace a party member with it? Will probably get tedious for me at some point (I typically grab a team and stick with it forever), but it's a nice feature none-the-less. Even better than that? "Pokémon X that you caught was holding a Y Item. What do you want to do with the item?" It informs me IMMEDIATELY they had an item being held, then asks if I want it in my inventory or to leave it on that mon. Seriously, that's awesome.
So... that's really all I got for what amounts to 4 hours of gameplay across both Sun and Moon... 3 of it with Sun and 1 with Moon.
