Pokemon Ultra Moon LP #1: Return to Alola! (Also, a Fuckton of Handholding)

Pokemon: Ultra Moon! I'm definitely excited to return to Alola, despite the title. At the point of writing this article, I just beat up the Totem Raticate at the end of Melemele Island's Verdant Cavern trial and... boy... let me tell you something, it isn't a particularly enjoyable experience replaying through the absolute grind that is the first leg of Pokemon Ultra Moon. It's basically the same with Sun/Moon, with some cosmetic details switched around, but by god, it's such a hand-holding game. You basically alternate between several different NPCs that will drag you along every step of the way.

And, yes, in a sense it does improve the storytelling parts of the game. The part with Lillie and Nebby on the bridge? The battle with Hau at the center of Iki Town? Those were great stuff. But god damn, exploring Hau'oli City every second step I get accosted by Hau or Lillie and they go into this spiel as to how Pokemon Centers or a Malasada Shop or a clothing shop works and I'm like... dude, in all other Pokemon games, I get to actually fucking explore the city on my own. It's such a frustrating thing, and the Pokemon School little mini-stage is such a tedious affair that has everyone introdump things to me. Is it really that necessary? Definitely not! Was it really necessary for a Crabrawler to shunt me to a side area, or for Hau to force me to go through a full 30 seconds of bullshit Malasada speech, or for some random dude to force me to go through the photography tutorial? It's stuff like this that make me apathetic about the wacky bonus features in the seventh generation, when they are things I can safely ignore and/or check out at my leisure in past games.

And, god, when I accidentally clicked on festival plaza by accident...

And up until Totem Raticate... well, I can't say it's actually torture, but it does really seem that Ultra Moon is basically a remixed Sun/Moon. I haven't kept up with the news a lot after the giant wall Ultra Beast was revealed, to keep things a surprise.

There are a small amount differences, of course. The Aether Foundation seems to be replaced by these... Ultra Recon Squad dudes, I think? These two dudes who introduce themselves to me as Soliera and Phyco (who I will inevitably misspell as Psycho down the line) show up with glitchy music and keep talking about the Blinding One, and they clearly come from some place that's not Alola, and also have ties to the Ultra Beasts.

There are also some neat cosmetic changes with how the battle screens happen, and they certainly look prettier. There are also some neat little collectible changes -- instead of little Zygarde puni-chan cells, I collect... stickers on the wall that Ilima sticks? Okay? Some NPC pokemon have extra dialogue, and the starters show up to save me from a Yungoos a bit earlier? And there's like a side-area with Mantine surf, and a new surfer trainer? There are a couple of new buildings, and some events are shuffled around (though to be honest -- whether I talk to Hau or whether I talk to Ilima before I fight Team Skull really feels inconsequential when their dialogue are nearly ignorable) but overall none that really feels that spectacular.

It's all well and good, although the whole ordeal of being hand-held like a three-year-old through the game, even though the 'FOLLOW THE BIG RED FLAG' on the bottom screen isn't insulting enough... I dunno. I always thought I tend to overreact with how hand-holdy Sun/Moon was, and this is just a reaffirmation that, no, Sun/Moon did go a bit too overboard. I think XY or BW hit a neat balance between holding the hands of newer players and just letting me explore this beautiful world they've created.

I guess most notable is the addition of several Pokemon in places I didn't remember seeing them before? I caught Growlithes, Furfrous and Zoruas in places I don't remember seeing them in. Currently my party consists of Rowlet, Zorua, Grimer, Inkay, Diglett and Growlithe, though the latter two are more stand-ins more than anything. I try to want to keep my party as different as possible from my Sun playthrough (Decidueye, Mimikyu, Vikavolt, Ribombee, Magnezone, Golisopod and Lycanroc) although it's not a hard cut-and-dry deal. I just sort of want to experience other Pokemon, I guess, although that Magnemite is sure tempting.  Not just because I had a Magnemite that kicked ass back in Sun, but simply out of practicality's sake since Electric/Steel is a pretty damn powerful typing. I guess if I do  get Zygarde in this game, I'll do it this time around?

Zoroark is a personal favourite, but I've only really used her in my slight rush-play through White 2 and briefly at the end of Y, but an attempt to make a competitive Pokemon isn't someone I get as attached to as someone I travel through a region together. So the fact that I found a Zorua unexpectedly is a huge, huge 'EEEEEE' moment to me.

Inkay's a weird motherfucker. I really like cephalopods, though, and I kind of was always intrigued by his weird Psychic/Dark dual type, although I'm not sure if I'll ever get a properly good moveset with Inkay (and Malamar) if all they get are trick mind-games stuff. Alolan Grimer is... is just doofy. I can't hate him especially now that I've mucked around (heh, mucked) with the dude in Pokemon Refresh.

And, yeah, I did pick Rowlet again, because... shit, I just dislike cats, and Popplio just doesn't appeal to me that much... but while I don't mind Incineroar and Primarina that much, both cute widdle baby owl Rowlet and badass ghost archer Decidueye are just irresistible. Generation VII, I think, is the only generation that I just dislike two of the options that much. Oh well. I do hope I'll be a bit more optimistic in the next part. No real schedule for this. I'm not rushing through the game, and am just playing through it in my own pace.