I was a child in the 90's. There really wasn't much of a choice when it came to knowing about Pokemon. I watched the TV show, I collected a few of the cards, and starting with the second generation I have played every generation of the games. For a better reference, I have played Silver, Gold, Ruby, Emerald, Firered, Platinum, Soulsilver, Black, Black 2, X, Omega Ruby, and now Moon. After graduating college and personal soul-searching, I ended up questioning exactly how much this franchise does mean to me. I thought back on each game, and I realized I only liked half of the ones I played, and all due to similar reasons when it came to dislikes. This was mostly set off by Pokemon X, which I personally felt was not only a let down, but the first legitimately bad game in the series. I decided to give this latest game a chance, and also decided that should I not like this game either, I would be done with the series. It would be time to give up pretending that really liking some of the games meant I liked the franchise.
My expectations flip-flopped constantly with this game before release. The trailers looked very promising, and I could not help but get excited over them. However, my excitement did not always last, and far too familiar warning signs seemingly creeped up.
I bring all of this up because it looks like Gamefreak knew there were a lot of players like me. Who for years have had complaints even when they did really like the end product. My biggest hope for the game was that it would not be a return to formula. My biggest hope was that it would take all of the problems this series has had, and finally take them head on and fix them.
Allow me to tell you a few of the ways that they did just that.
Gone is the gym leader system. Instead, you fight wild Pokemon known as Totem Pokemon, who are super-powered and have incredibly strong moves. When you fight enough of them, you fight an actual trainer known as a Kahuna, and they are also very tough enemies. Each Totem Pokemon is foreboding and challenging, and every single Kahuna is packed with personality. Also, you do not just happen by the Totem Pokemon, you are given a Trial from trainers known as Captains. The Captains are also full of personality, and each Trial feels unique and memorable. Gone are the days of a Gym Leader with one stock personality trait, whose gym is truth-be-told not all that different from the last one you were just in. The more unique Gym Leaders were always a favorite amongst players, and this time, every single Trial Captain and Kahuna has every bit of personality those popular Gym Leaders had, and more.
Speaking of the Trial's difficulty, this game truly addresses a problem I have had since the very beginning and am glad they finally addressed it. Pokemon games have never been known to be completely easy, however, myself and many players found the difficulty to be random and sporadic. It was not uncommon for a random trainer to be ten times stronger than a Gym Leader you just fought. Difficulty is one thing, but Pokemon tended to go for cheaper and more unfair versions of this. There would be many times where you would lose and it would not even be your fault, as the game just decided to stack itself against you for little to no reason. They tried addressing this in X, but the result was that the game became too easy. It may sound weird to complain it was too hard and then complain it was too easy, but what I'm trying to say it that the gradual balance of difficulty was not used to good effect either way. The games that were too hard were full of sudden difficulty spikes you could not prepare for, and the very easy X and Y felt as if it never grew any form of difficulty as it went on. Instead of an upward line on the graph, it stayed completely flat the whole way.
In Moon, random trainers do not tend to be very hard up until the very end sections of the game. The Trials, however, are quite difficult and require skill to master. Once you see the word "Trial" appear on your screen, you know what you are getting in for, which means you can prepare yourself for what is about to come. To me, this was the most challenging Pokemon game I've ever played, because while other games were harder, this one was one I could understand and adapt to, so I could actually focus on what was being thrown at me, and I would actually have to think everything over instead of just throwing myself into the fire. I have never strategized in a Pokemon game as much as I have in Moon, and I am very happy for it.
And that is not even discussing the new Z-moves. One time per battle moves that can be used by any Pokemon that now an attack with the same typing as the Z-stone, and some of them are exclusive to just certain Pokemon in general. Once you use the move, that is it, you cannot use another one until you have a new battle. If it didn't work the way you were hoping it did, you had to think on your feat. Versus say the Mega evolutions from the last generation, which stayed in their form for the entire battle. These were all one-and-done, you could not simply hit the button without thinking too hard like myself and many others did with Mega evolution, and this is coming from somebody who originally expected Mega evolution to become a feature he would love.
As the many trailers pointed out, this game also introduced regional forms for certain Pokemon. One thing that has bothered me for quite some time is just how many times I would play a new Pokemon game, and yet I barely found any new Pokemon compared to the old ones. With regional forms, these older Pokemon were given new life, and felt as if they were brand new. Their new typing helped to do so, and in some cases even fixed the problems those older Pokemon had. For example, I was always a fan of the poison type known as Grimer and it's evolved form Muk. While I liked them, I was aware they were not useful in battle, it's stats did not match up with it's typiing very well. In Moon, it gains the Dark-type, and it's move set is changed in a way that makes it a very formidable ally or opponent. It can now use a very powerful Bite and Crunch, learns more useful poison-type attacks, and is completely immune to the Psychic-type that is used to take immense damage from. I caught a Grimer early on, and it ended up being one of the six Pokemon I took all the way to the end.
This was taken before I entered this game's version of VIctory Road, but notice even here that Muk was one of the highest levels. Because I kept using him for anything it had an advantage against, or something that nothing had an advatange against so I hit it hard instead.
There are many other things I could go on about. How this was the first time that a comedic villainous gang actually worked for me, how it no longer asked you twice on whether or not you didn't want to learn a new move, that the mechanic of Sun usually being set in the daytime when you play and Moon being set mostly at night means there is finally a real reason to get either/or copy, or that the final villain of the game manages to be truly menacing and terrifying.
There is, however, only one thing that should be the focus of what this review is about. When it comes to story and character, this is the most in-depth the series has ever gotten. Many people who loved the original games will proclaim up and down that the vague hints at story was some of the best story they ever needed, despite the fact it really was little to nothing. Fans of the fifth generation point out that the deconstruction of the series formula and the dynamics of it's characters make it the most fleshed out, and there was a time I agreed with them. Sun and Moon once again go for deconstruction, and it pulls it over even better than the last time.
When I first started playing this game, I noticed just how well the cutscenes played out, how well-explained and free-flowing the gameplay was, how the characters worked off each other. Pokemon games were always their own thing, and from the start I felt like this was the time one I could call a full-on video game. This is not a diss on those older games, as I do still love the ones that I love, but they never felt so much like video games as they felt like their own thing; Pokemon games. This one bridges the gap, and by doing so, they made an unforgettable video game that I recommend above any other game with the Pokemon name slapped on.
I cared, during this game. Typically, I would place emotions into the Pokemon friends that I caught, that was all I needed. By the end of my journey, the characters I had grown to know felt like actual characters. I felt like the protagonist I was playing actually mattered in the world, as did everyone she knew.
When the infamous Sonic Boom came out, video game critic and pundit Jim Sterling said that the game was so bad that it reminded him that he was going to eventually die along with everyone else and that nothing he did really mattered. Playing to the end of Pokemon Moon felt like the positive opposite of that. Pokemon Moon made me realize that it will eventually be over, but that my precious little time mattered so much and was worth every second I will get out of it. I usually replay these games, do self-imposed challenges, but my experience with this game was so personal that that would feel like I spit all over it. I loved this game so much that I am preserving the memory of my time with it by never playing it again. Any second playthrough would feel like stepping on a loved one's grave. I can't bear myself to ruin something that became something so special.
-Final Score-
Pokemon Moon gets a 9 out of 10. It would have been a solid ten, but there is an issue where the framerate drops every time there are more than two Pokemon in a battle, and sometimes it lags just a little bit if a two Pokemon battle lasts too long. Should they fix it, it's a solid ten, and even without a fix this is my second favorite Pokemon game ever made.