Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon

[TheDreamingHawk]

Only explanation for Sun and Moon being so big is Alolan Exeggutor.

this would be a reason i'd be ok with

[TheDreamingHawk]

New info. GameXplain and other reviewers from the west coast got to go hands on with the game for two hours, and confirmed a lot of minor details about Sun/Moon, such as the lack of D-Pad support (obviously due to it being a free moving game) and the removal of 3D almost entirely.

They answered some questions not blocked by embargo in this video here: (Link starts at my questions)

For those not wanting to watch, I asked what you'd expect me to, about if the game still runs like ass like XY did in battles and if the challenge is a bit better. Good and bad news!

Good: The removal of 3D, while appearing to be a pathetic move at first, is actually a good thing, since the battles seem to run a bit more smoothly than they did in Gen VI. Since I play with the move animations off, this should mean that the battles would run pretty dang nice, just like they should!

Unfortunately, they pointed out that Poke Finder (That weird Pokemon Snap clone) has 3D and it slows the game down terribly when turned on, proving that they still can't properly optimize their game for 3D. At least they did a smart move by removing it elsewhere (though why it's still in Poke Finder if it makes it run horribly is beyond me but at least that's a throwaway mode)'

Bad: Challenge is a bit of a mixed bag. Early game challenge seems standard and the only sort of difficulty the players faced was due to a bad type matchup. Nothing that can really be judged yet until we get the game next month, but here's hoping it does a Kirby Planet Robobot and makes the end-game a nice challenge while making the main story a relaxing experience that isn't too insulting.

Tons of other things in the video as well. I recommend checking it out!

Also, since it seems nobody mentioned it, Corocoro leaked again and there's a Grimer recolor now. Looks like a mix between waste and acid. Half dark type for some reason.

[mikey]

such as the lack of D-Pad support

screw this game im not buying it

[BlackDragonSlayer]

We have our first Dragon/Fighting type everybody.

[Nebbles]

and he is my friend and i love him

[Dekkadeci]

We have our first Dragon/Fighting type everybody.

4x weak to Fairy, a fairy ghost in a shoddy Pikachu costume (Mimikyu) is immune to both types at once...guess it's safe to whip out the Dragon/Fighting types now.

How Game Freak got away with Reshiram the Dragon/Fire type in Generation 5, before Fairies were introduced, I'll never quite know...(although perhaps Game Freak is willing to push their legendaries pretty hard...)

[mikey]

I got through the gen 3remake without any fairies, I can do it for this

[Dudeman]

New Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ4I_0DP4fc

[close]

impressions

Silvally's cool, I guess. Seems like a poor man's Arceus, although maybe that's the point. I wish it looked more different from Type: Null, as all it really lost is the helmet.
Hakamo-o and Kommo-o look really cool, but as Dekka pointed out, they'll probably become all but useless in competitive due to that horrible matchup against Fairy-types. Which is too bad.
A nice surprise reveal in Steenee and Tsareena. Tsareena's ability appears to cancel out priority moves entirely. That's crazy. It seems like GameFreak's been adding several abilities to serve as counters for common competitive strategies. This is getting interesting.
Ribombee is adorable, that is all.
We knew about Alolan Grimer, but, um, Alolan Muk is...what the heck am I looking at. I need an explanation for the rainbow sludge abomination.
So, aside from five trial captains, it looks like each island has its own Kahuna as well. While the gym system may be gone from this game, I'm glad that there's still a traditional one-on-one trainer battle waiting at the end of each island.

[close]

[Nitro Indigo]

Now that someone mentioned it, why are the main Pokémon games the only 3DS games that lag in 3D? HarmoKnight doesn't lag in 3D, and that was also made by Game Freak.

[mikey]

I need an explanation for the rainbow sludge abomination.

Gay Pride

[Dude]

Now that someone mentioned it, why are the main Pokémon games the only 3DS games that lag in 3D? HarmoKnight doesn't lag in 3D, and that was also made by Game Freak.

I'm pretty sure Pokemon uses a lot more memory than hamoknight for graphics lol.

I mean 6 Pokemon on screen with attacks visible? That's pretty heavy duty stuff.

[SlowPokemon]

^That's true; it's mainly due to the cel-shaded model designs. Even Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney has lag when there are more than three characters on screen at the same time (which isn't often) and 3D is up.

[Nebbles]

All the new Pokemon are so cute, wtf

[K-NiGhT]

alolan muk makes me feel legit sick

i think they're doing it right

[TheDreamingHawk]

Now that someone mentioned it, why are the main Pokémon games the only 3DS games that lag in 3D? HarmoKnight doesn't lag in 3D, and that was also made by Game Freak.

They aren't the only games in 3D that lag, but they are one of the few first party games to do so. Others like Hyrule Warriors Legends and Kirby Planet robobot slow down a bit in 3D as well, and PSMD loses a tiny bit of texture when the 3D is on. However, I will say that XY/ORAS are some of the worst running 3D games that I've ever played on the system (and I've reviewed a lot.) When the 3D is on in a single battle, the game runs in near single digit framerates, (and I wish I was exaggerating, but I'm not, it truly gets that bad if you try to use a flashy move like Origin pulse in 3D, and it slows down even when nothing's happening) which is inexcusable for games made in 2013/2014. The only places that the 3D doesn't slow the game down to bad lengths are overworld areas, but those are rare.

But yeah, XY/ORAS had really shitty 3D performance, even on the new 3DS with ORAS. That's probably why they disabled it in the other battle modes and why they removed it almost altogether in Sun/Moon. Pretty much shows that Game Freak sucks at optimizing their games for 3D, when the two PMD games can run pretty smooth in 3D. That's why I'm a bit pleased that they removed the 3D support entirely, though I'm still disappointed they couldn't have fixed it by hiring a competent programmer like M2 and instead had to take the easy way out. Nevertheless, if it leads to a tolerable framerate, I'll take it.

Speaking of M2, whenever someone tries to bring up how Game Freak are indie developers, (as their excuse for why the 3D sucks so hard) you should point to them as an example of a small japanese indie team who get things done. Their Sega 3D classics run perfectly on the oldest model at max 3D, and that's with intense games like Power Drift and Galaxy Force II. Not that they should waste months on the 3D effect, but if they wanted to include it, they should have focused on trying to fix the issue.

In regards to Harmoknight, I'm pretty sure the reasoning for that running better is because it was worked on by the European members of Game Freak (not the usual team who's busy on Pokemon) and because it was a simplistic 2D game. I probably should check that game out eventually, along with Pocket Card Jockey.