Today we'll talk about the subjectively worst Pokémon game EVER and why Sword and Shield ain't that bad. USUM Sucks!
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0:00 Cold Opening
2:07 Introduction
5:15 Part 1: What I expected
7:35 Part 2: Third Versions, Splitting Pokémon Games in Two, and the Name
11:40 Part 3: Actual Positives
13:46 Part 4: The Biggest Problem
15:40 Part 5: Things They Didn’t Fix
19:01 Part 6: Somehow More Hand Holding
22:47 Part 7: Minor Dumb Crap No One Asked For
27:09 Part 8: F*** Kanto
31:15 Part 9: Ultra Necrozma
34:18 Part 10: Lusamine
36:43 Part 11: Ultra Recon Squad and Ultra Megalopolis
38:57 Part 12: Team Rainbow Rocket and Giovanni
44:20 Part 13: The Ultra Wormholes and Legendaries
46:56 Part 14: Weird Minor Details
48:32 Part 15: Mina's Trial
50:24 Part 16: What Was the Point of These Games
Imagine the potential of a pokemon game with more than 1-2years of development time and creative gamedirectors. Maybe some day
@@tacitgamingfanREAL now imagine not condemning an entire group of people for the action of individuals and strawmanning their issues with the games as "not catering specifically to them" maybe some day. Seriously, Deaththreats are bad, duh, but most people have legitimate criticisms you know
Um it's usually 3-4
@@tacitgamingfanREAL lol riot. More like they release half assed games with greedy monetization. You are just strawmanning your whole argument, NO fans havent been asking for gen 4 with chibi graphicd, people want an actual remake, Gamefreak has given the fans nothing of what they wanted, you are just making strawmen. And then you go and literally strawmen everyone using red herings about death threats. Yeah i am sure if idiots didnt send death threats that pokemon would magically be good again. And clearly criticizing the game means that you are responsible for the people sending death threats (spoilers they are not)
@@C3l3bi1 screw you. I said i did not want to continue this argument. So it comes to no surprise that the first thing I see is this, that I'm angry. You talk about me "strawmanning" the game, yet in your last paragraph, you jump to incredibly weak conclusions. Also, I never said people wanted the chibi graphics, and the death threats are very much real. Maybe if you used your singular braincell to actually read my review and research it instead of blindly flinging your garbage out like a drunk chimpanzee. Oh wait, if you actually read it, you wouldn't have made this comment in the first place, because, and I quote:"I really would not like to continue this argument, since neither of us are winning, I don't want to come off as toxic, and it's probably taking tolls on our enjoyment of life.”
@@C3l3bi1 The funny thing is where do all these alleged death threats come from, like they hear someone say this, and then it just spreads, at worst people call for the firing of Masuda and co. but is it really unwarranted after how they handled all this?
The only thing pokemon will never get wrong in every single game no matter how bad it is, is the soundtrack
Y e s
So basically, Pokemon is this generation's Sonic The Hedgehog.
Agreed for the most part. Thought I do prefer the trainer battle theme from the original sun and moon over USUM.
@@cubedmelons876 I mean, they're both still going on and both were from the 90s, so they're both in this generation
Rite
The only thing I hate about Ultra Sun/Moon is the story. Like they made Lusamine the good guy which not only does it not make sense but ruins Gladion and Lillie’s character development. They went from “Im gonna stop my psychotic mother from destroying the region” to “I want to stop my mom from saving the region because I don’t want to lose my Pokémon”. Also Lusamine went from being a creepy and memorable villain to a background character.
@@dn9549 Which just does NOT work compared to OG Lusamine
And this is why I keep on saying they should've had the Rainbow Rocket Episode throughout the whole game (since Gamefreak had a massive hard on for Kanto throughout the whole damn game.) Giovanni mentioned using Nihilego's poison to mind control her. They could have made it where she was their puppet and that she is a sweet/loving mother, which tips Lillie and Gladion off to something is not right. Team Skull is used as their front to stop you. As the Ultra Squad is trying to alert you to the problems as Rainbow Rocket is after Necrozma and try to use it for their own gain, but again Team Skull interrupts the conversations to prevent you from knowing the truth. Or something like this. Anything could have been better than what we got here/didn't retcon what was built from the last game.
the only thing i hate about USUM is there too much cutscenes and some of them are too much long
Should of been a sequel not a remake
Not only that, but even some new features like Mantine Surf, Ultra Squad & other things that are mandatory to proceed makes the game even slower than the original. And none of them aren't that fun.
Everything you said about Team Rainbow Rocket was so true. I never even realized that Red, Blue and Giovanni ARE all in the same region and I've seen nobody else bat an eye about how it's weird that Red and Blue don't care about what Giovanni's doing
This is a bit of a nitpick, but I really hate how overused the word “ultra” is in this game. It’s literally everywhere. Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon, Ultra Wormholes, Ultra Space, Ultra Beasts, Ultra Jungle, Ultra Ruin, Ultra Recon Squad... these games really ruined the word “ultra” for me
Ultra Ball Oh wait...
In Japan, the Beast Balls are called Ultra Balls cause they catch Ultra Beasts. The English translation was changed cause Hyper Balls in Japan are called Ultra Balls.
I 100% agree to this like what makes an ultra beast "ultra" again?
Plus Ultra!
Multi-Ultra-Alternate-Anti-Hyper Universe is such a wasted potential
18:09 “At least they gave us clothes!” Pokemon SV, entirely removing your ability to change your pants and giving you a whole 4 different tops to wear.
Legitimately knocked SV down a few pegs for me
not to mention i found the school part of the game to be almost unimportant. i didnt go back unless i absolutely need to lol.
*A wild Maractus has appeared* Gireum: Oh cool! USUM is embracing Gen 5 for once. For a second, I thought another Kanto Pokémon was going to app- and it's actually a Ditto. *Holds pistol up to his head*
Ultra Megalopolis is so genuinely upsetting for me. It has so much potential, and I just adore the atmosphere to it
I feel the same for the distorsion world honestly, it's really too short and empty
I know I already said this multiple times in the Discord/chat, but I also don't like how Team Rainbow Rocket implies that all the characters we love and grew up with died horrible and painful deaths in multiple timelines/universes. Also literally every region except Johto got a character cameo in this game.
Who wouldve taken the spot in jhoto? Team rocket already had a representative. And if we're going off of what was said in game, these leaders are only taken from universes in which they succeeded. This is why ghetsis and colress have this interaction. So in the universe Giovanni succeeded, the events of the jhoto games never happened, at least in the same way
@@ethancampbell9096 Guess they could’ve used the HGSS team rocket admins. Um Archer, Petrel and Proton?
@@CEDL0W so they'd use 2 alternate team rockets? That could've worked I guess
@@ethancampbell9096 That or they could’ve just been a part of rainbow rocket. Heck they could’ve used an alternative version of Silver that actually joins his Father’s team. Which would make sense since Silver only hated Team rocket because they were weak and got disbanded which didn’t happened in the universe that rainbow rocket came from.
@@ethancampbell9096 The Johto character cameo didn't need to be a Team Rainbow Rocket representative Red, Blue, Wally, Cynthia, Grimsley, Colress, Dexio, and Sina all made cameos throughout the story or at the Battle Tree, they could've easily had a Johto character appear at the Battle Tree.
I can understand some Japan region references on a Hawaii region, but the problem is that there's FOUR Japanese regions to reference and they just use Kanto.
I think the problem is, they try to make 3D games by thinking in 2D. A lot of those concepts worked in the 2D sprite era, but that’s what they mastered. And making 3D games takes a hole different approach and they are not good at that.
that is exactly it, like the fade to black to avoid animating made sense in a 2d space. now its cheap
They’re a multi billion dollar company they aren’t indie devs they need to get with the times or lose their fans
GameFreak: we want a streamlined experience to keep kids attention before they just decide to go back to their phones Also GameFreak: bores kids to death with bloated cutscenes with little substance as if they're trying to meet a word count.
A double-spaced, size 16 font high school essay is a really good analogy for Gamefreak’s development process for the Pokémon franchise.
As someone who plays visual novels, even I was at the point of frustration when it came to the cutscenes. And visual novels at least allows you to skip the scenes if you have seen them already. Or if they don't have that option, they at least have a speed up function.
PMD does the same thing though? Pokemon fans don't make sense
@@mopiey1k PMD dialogue at least from the bits of what I read are WAY better though (including even the best Pokemon mainline games) especially how they add some more detail to them IMO.
Gen 7 is just a text box generator, it's 90% dialogue and 10% gameplay.
Honestly I loved USUM even after watching this but you really helped put issues into perspective. Everything you mentioned was something that could be improved especially areas where they cheaped out on. Very very well done and I loved this almost hour video about one of my favorite games!
My thoughts exactly
Still love usum/sumo, but I do acknowledge it’s flaws. (It’s not as horrific as sword and sheild or let’s go though)
The only things I liked were rainbow rocket, mantine surf, wormhole mini game. Everything else in between not so much.
I agree
Usum is the best modern Pokémon game he just hates it because he has gen 7 burnout
this video was funny af, and the parallels to star wars were spot on 😂
Didn't expect to see you here Distant Kingdom.
Oh hey, it’s the guy that got popular off of yelling at trees
Omg you're here DK!!
@@TomboyGamerGal ofc he's here, if there's ever a negative review of pokemon, expect him to be here and agreeing with it. (In this case I agree as well, USUM was shit compared to Sun and Moon, but it's annoying how he's always attacking everything about Pokemon.)
KrisNightmare, sometimes I don't see him on other people's video's review all the time like in SilphSpectre's videos. Keep in mind that Gireum is also in Distant's discord, so I'm pretty sure that's how he got acquainted with him. And if you can't stand it that he mostly bashes on Pokemon, well there's always an option of not watching him. This is nothing new on the internet where people have an obsession on something.
I actually really enjoyed mantine surfing. Its a fun and relaxing way of getting bp and it has great music
Yeah it's pretty harmless, still I think some would rather fix the issues SM had rather than add a new thing as a seeming distraction to the still unpolished parts of the game.
@@zjzr08 does it really matter at this point? I mean, they already moved on from Alola, leaving behind and unfixed those bugs.
@@Velociraptor2000 I meant USUM could've been a way to expand the existing concepts in SM (more areas, more trial captains, fixing the story a bit, maybe a Battle Frontier than just Battle Tree) rather than adding more new stuff necessarily.
@@zjzr08 yes it could've, but unfortunately they didn't and now they'll remain like this for the rest of our existence.
@@Velociraptor2000 I mean I was just responding to the OP about Mantine Surfing while being fine could've had its development time used to improve other things, I mean this is just a discussion, I know we can't change it anymore, hehe.
What they did to Lusamine was criminal. She was so badass in S/M and they completely ruined her in US/UM.
What’d they do? I remember her in SM but I dont remember her well in USUM
@@sweetheartmashupsbabe Lusamine wasn't a bad mother of her own will, it was a mean UB influencing her. This completely diminishes her characters. Losing her husband, her obssession with work on the UBs to cope with the pain directly hurting her relationship with her kids, realizing she was wrong and trying to be better, gone... I hate brainwashing so much in stories
24:59 I genuinely hated the rotomdex, like I just wanna check the map to see where I'm going but Noooo, I gotta listen to the dex blabber on about the same Crap over and over. They should have made its talking feature optional but I guess that would mean gamefreak would have to make an effort. And that's just crazy.
This isn't lazy. It would be lazy if they didn't program the talking of it at all because they thought it'd be stupid, senseless effort (They would be right, though). It's just simply a stupid decision like it was a stupid to make hard and easy mode so stupid in B2W2. Gamefreak has LOTS of those stupid decisions and I don't get why. How does it even come through, is there no one who is like 'Hooold up, I think that's kinda stupid'.
@@helion6075 It's what we call "bizzare laziness" where there seems to be borderline effort but misplaced on things unnecessary.
I liked the rotom dex in og Sun. in Ultra I wanted to throw it in the trash.
is not lazy, they just created a new jar jar binks bc they though it would be interesting, but it became so SO SOO annoying
For me it wasn't even me wanting to check the map It was everytime he talked which like you said is every 30 seconds I would notice it at the bottom of the screen, and it's so distracting to me And they have about 10 dialog options so all I can picture when they pop up is someone repeating it word for word psychotically
Gosh, I loved your talk about how Sun and Moon deserved a sequel. So many storylines could have been continued. But no, we get new storylines with even WORSE loose ends. The Ultra Recon Squad and literally all of Ultra Space had so much more potential than Gamefreak was willing to give them.
It's like they took features out of SM and let them in USUM
😊
I guess saying "I personally didn't like this game" doesn't make as much money as saying "WORST GAME EVER, LITERALLY KILLED MY DOG"
Yep He has to do the bait titles for it to acutally be seen Not because he acutally believes the game is completely awful and anyone who likes it is scum or anything But because of how KZhead's algorithm works
Literally dude, no Pokemon game is straight up bad, but you can't just deny the establishments and foundation one must have created for future ventures
@M1551NGN0 I dunno about that, like I guess all Pokemon games are "fun" just because you are able to use cute and cool creatures in an RPG, but it doesn't make them "good", especially when there's standards for games in their systems...not only that but some foundations have been removed too.
@@M1551NGN0that is a straight up lie the last two gen have been straight 🗑️
@@TenshinhanIsKing you're just nostalgically delusional
Fun fact Gamefreak releases the trailer for Ultra Necrozma ONE MONTH after USUM were released
No way...really 🤔 I swear I’ve it in the trailer
@@chavonjames8941 you probably saw the ultra megalopolis one
@@Plataplonks I like how you can use Zygarde on your team and not have him be op
I like usum it feels more complete
@@sandman1576 yeah USUM has cooler mon added and a neat little post game
All they had to do was add a tips/hint menu. Or they could have a npc that would explain IF THE PLAYER NEEDED TO GET HELP
It exists in firered
@@johanninong that mechanic would've maybe the rotom somewhat useful instead of annoying
“Expect at least 1 boring hallway scene in legends arceus” Damn it actually happened
discord.com/invite/RajSP3mY8v - Official Gireum's Gas Station discord. Want to debate about the hot takes video I spouted in the video? Join the discord! kzhead.info/sun/lZ2TlZpxhH2ajIU/bejne.html - Deleted Scene Also I stream every Thursday, so come join! Thursday KST 10PM / PST 6AM / EST 9AM / GMT 1PM on my KZhead channel!
When USUM was first announced, I thought they were gonna be sequels so I was super excited. Imagine my disappointment when I found out it was a third version split into two games instead. I still played and enjoyed it, but it was nothing like I had hoped.
Don't know why people thought that US/UM were sequels... Maybe it's the title of the name that mislead them and the game trailers? Anyways, the game is nearly the same as S/M. After completing everything in the game, the game gets really dull. I wished that GF/TPC made a DLC for S/M where they have a new story and have better features, but they didn't do it cause... money and Pokemon is a greedy corporation like Disney. Last year, I sold all of my Gen VII games. I'm done with the Pokemon franchise. Just wondering if Scarlet and Violet will improve upon Sword and Shield.
@@TomboyGamerGal The only thing that made me think it was a sequel was because of the game being the second featuring legendaries you can merge like Kyurem and Zekrom/Reshiram along with thinking it was a different trainer.
@@MrPetpet111 I already knew that the boy/girl trainers were the same ones as the original Sun and Moon... Meanwhile, the trainers in B2/W2 were different as they looked younger and their eyes were more rounder. And we all knew they were sequels as it has "2" next next to the version's name. Shame it didn't really sell that well for GF's/TPC's standards...
They never advertised it as a sequel. That you being stupid.
same! i dont even know why? but i thought it was gonna be like bw2 :/
There are things in USUM that I don't get, like poipole and marowak not learning their moves or begin given to you too late to learn the moves. Alolan marowak's signiture move shadow bone is learned at level 17, but cubone evolves at 27 so you gotta get it at move relearner. Poipole needs dragon pulse to evolve, but since you get him super late you gotta get it from the move relearner.
you can't redeem lusamine while still having her do the same old shit as in sun and moon. the anime made a different kind of lusamine because she had a different personality. this lusamine never disowned lillie or gladion. this lusamine never tried to murder nebby this lusamine never tried to release eldritch monsters on the world..
@bruh moment anime lusamine never said "I don't have any children" TO LILLIE
I can never forgive these games for cutting my favorite cutscene of the original sun and moon games (the bonding moment on Exeggutor island)
true the add so much shit but cut the good stuff?! like tf
@@Sebas_Khan01 it’s a cutscene 😭.
18:09 the way that SV literally took most of the customization away.... we really are living in the worst timeline 😭
One of the worst things this game left out for me was the Looker Anabel story from Sun and Moon. While gameplay wise Team Rainbow Rocket has more going on, Looker and Anabel felt like they contributed more to the overall lore of the Pokémon world. In USUM the two are just there with no explanation for who they are. This is especially egregious with Anabel, as her backstory and reason for being with the International Police is only explained in Sun and Moon, not Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. By comparison, Team Rainbow Rocket feels so detached from what goes on in Alola. It feels like you could do the same thing at the end of another Pokémon game with only minor tweaks to the plot. You don't even get to see the villains actually interact with each other directly, so what's the point of them being here other than nostalgia?
Yeah, I also thought it was kind of weird how Giovanni just suddenly has the ability to travel between dimensions now, and I say that as someone who actually liked the Rainbow Rocket episode (if only because I got a kick out of fighting a version of Cyrus who actually has a Dialga/Palkia in his party). Seriously, that part of the game ends with Giovanni contemplating what world he's going to try to take over next. It comes across as a cliffhanger that's just BEGGING to be resolved and/or further explored... but knowing GameFreak and Masuda, it probably won't be.
Funny that they just tossed it to Masters for it to be resolved there. They really didn't care.
I thought it was continued in Pokemon Go with Giovanni "appearing in the real world" but if it was really continued in Masters, then it was just a coincidence.
@@SunshineCasyGiovanni and Team Rocket has a heavy focus in the Villain Arc in Masters, even in sub-arcs that they weren't the main villain team of, frustratingly enough...that being said, the finale of the arc coming this month seems to try and tie it all together, but unlike RR it seems some villain teams are gonna be against him, and based on the trailer it seems it's all against Team Rocket.
Imagine how cool your idea of the entire region being taken over could be if expanded upon. Archie and Maxie fight for control of Melemele Island as Aqua and Magma Grunts war with each other, and the island is in a constantly fluctuating state of heavy rain and blazing sun as Groudon and Kyogre fight it out. Cyrus and Team Galactic takes Akala Island, and uses Dialga and/or Palkia to trap the island in a space-time distortion requiring you to befriend Giratina or the Dialga and Palkia from the main universe to get inside. Lysandre takes over Ula’ula Island, and turns Mount Lanakila into a massive construction site for a new version of the Ultimate Weapon, preparing to do what he did to his universe. And B1W1 Ghetsis takes over Poni Island with Team Plasma, possibly assisted by the version of him from B2W2 and New Team Plasma, or perhaps warring with him as Past Ghetsis wants to rule Alola while Future Ghetsis simply wants to destroy everything. It all ends with the players traveling to an Aether Paradise owned by Giovanni, satisfied in having separated himself from the other leaders and content with letting everyone else destroy themselves, while intending to use the Paradise’s technology to expand his criminal empire across universes. Perhaps go one step further and make it so that this is the Giovanni from your universe, who took Aether Paradise and summoned the team leaders from other universes so Alola would collapse and he can pick up the remains.
Yea this would have been a lot cooler And could have lead to unique encounters under the altered islands I feel it's the story changes that are the biggest issue with Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon That and them not being one game seeing how much they are like Platinum Otherwise I do love the game It's fun and enjoyable and through it and the frist two games, it allows me to have all the starters (up to gen 7 at least) It just needed to keep certain story elements like the Looker and Annabel story And should have done more with the Rainbow Rocket plot line, giving more info about these alternative leaders and explaining this Rainbow Rocket Giovanni
Totally. talk about wasted potential
It still baffles me that the tutorial for these games is still longer than this video.
same
That is a comedic exaggeration and a lie the tutorial was like 20 minutes
@@passionateflare2149 The tutorial is from the start of the game to the end of the trailer's school. In both of my playthroughs it took an hour and a half to finish that section of the game. It's not an exaggeration.
The end scene after the pokemon league is longer than the lord of the rings trilogy
@@expo_pkmn Can confirm, played UM recently and got exhausted starting off
There were obviously lots of downsides, but aside from having waaaaaaay too much dialogue and cutscenes I really really like USUM. Gen 7 felt like such a huge step forward for the main series in many ways.
At least it was better than the mediocre Gen 8 games.
Yea it was a great game Not perfect and has plently of short comings that needed work Like the story in multiple parts But it is honestly fun and enjoyable Gen 8's game needed two DLCs to get better
Legends seem like a step in the right direction. Ultra sun and moon really should’ve been a third version instead of 2 games that have the same improvements as a third version. There really was no reason to make the ultra games. All problems here are encapsulated in sword and shield. They ruined lusamine by redeeming here character here. Lusamine was a good antagonist and the twist that guzma wasn’t the antagonist. It’s literally the worst in the series as it combines the worst of third versions and the worst of black 2 white 2. It feels cashgrabby and could’ve been one version.
i kinda like mina because she's an artist and every artist is just so burnt out or depressed and, you get the point. we artist sell our soul in exchange to draw, and we still hate ourselves. it's probably why mina just "uhh ok here's the z crystal now go" or "uhh ok how about you do this k bye bye" it somewhat fits with her being an artist. but still, it could've been more creative and after all, she IS an ARTIST. I did get a few chuckle but afterward i just felt a tang of disappointment.
Mina is the artists at Game Freak pouring their soul into character/Pokemon/location designs only to see them be absolutely butchered by the poor ingame execution due to the far too little time the company has to make these games. Meanwhile, Larry is the game devs that are probably crunched to death trying to make said art a game reality. ... I think Game Freak is trying to subtly tell us something.
23:16 Not gonna lie, I would probably eat something like that if I was offered it.
bruh
Food is food!
@@WisdomAkpan211 “i don't have such weaknesses”
Pokemon Eclipse would have been perfect
Right
I loved playing my US game. It was nowhere as good as Platinum or the Unova games but it was still fun and was actually challenging in some parts. Then again I never bought SM so maybe that's the reason why I don't hate it
Yup, that's why
I played both the original Sun and Moon and the Ultra games and I still really enjoyed my experiences with both
Yeah
@@AuraStrikeAce I definitely enjoyed my experience playing both games. However, when the facts is layed out that they are basically the exact same games with minor changes instead of remastered third versions or sequels, its hard not to feel a little scammed.
Agreed
This made me stay up till 4am and watch it in its entirety, worth it. I laughed at Lusamine's pronounciation a few times too much
Lusa-Minesotta
Finally! Somebody else who thinks the Ultra Necozma fight was bullsh*t! I feel like they heard complaints that S/M was too easy, and instead of tweaking the levels and move sets of trainers and Pokemon you fought, they troll us and put in a wall that's impossible to beat without using cheap tricks or hours and hours of grinding beforehand. As you said yourself, it's not challenging; it's unfair.
1 year late here but they did change the level curve and the teams of boss trainers. For example, in the early Gladion Fights he has Zorua now and Type: Null has more moves than just tackle. Its just that Ultra Necrozma is fucking omega bullshit in comparison to everything
I agree with that fight it one shot my lvl 75 druggion who had quick claw on him So I had to get a lvl 100 lugia from GTS to win that fight but he is worth getting on my team
@@bluedragon2049 I mean, dunno what were you expecting considering Drudiggon has shit defenses and is weak to dragon tbf
@@funninoriginal6054 true but it also k.o' d my shiny lucardio that's lvl 85
Zoroak disguised as Hariyama go brrrrrrr
I’m hesitant to shit on Game Freak too much, since it sounds like they’re being forced to meet unfair deadlines by their parent company. They’re not entirely without blame, but there’s literally nothing they can do about being held to a release date, even if it means cutting corners and content to meet The Pokémon Company’s demands.
It's ironic that "Lusamine" means slacking in Estonian, which means they really hope for the character is already begging to be lazy undeveloped character... Idk maybe I am just rambling here.
Yeah, I think you are. Her name comes from the German name for the garden balsam, _balsamine._ Being an Estonian word is purely coincidental. Source: bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Lusamine#Names
@@ChoiceSnarf she's a flower now XD
Lusamin in the orginal Sun and Moon is a developed enough character. Then they ruined it in sun and moon
I played this game after Sword and Shield, and didn't play Sun and Moon. So I actually liked them a lot. I think I agree with most things you said in this video, but the bar i so low, since X and Y, that I actually still think these are the best Pokémon games in a while.
I had actually played both sun and moon and ultra sun, but still quite liked all of them
I played Sun and Moon before, but definitely want to get Ultra Moon. While Alola wasn't my favorite region, I still had a good experience with it and loved the overall atmosphere of the game. Sword and Shield in retrospect was just super disappointing to me, no sense of exploration, terrible postgame if you don't have the DLC, so much unused potential with the story. And I even had fun with that, for some time, but I've never played a Pokemon game before that felt so stale like SW/SH did. After finishing BDSP which I enjoyed a lot, taking a break from Legends Arceus because it's the same thing over and over again (even though it's definitely lots of fun) and playing SS once again, I really wanna get back to Alola.
Nah ORAS was the best Pokémon game in a while
I partially like Mantine surfing because you can get BP from it (which helps with getting early game BP items if you want to EV train before end game) and a surfing Pikachu. The mini game itself is fine, not amazing but also not bad. Also, the nugget bridge reference is in SM too.
I gnerally agree with you 100%. I've always said that if USUM was actually just $20 DLC with Rainbow Rocket, bigger PokéDex, and Mantine Surf, that would have been perfectly acceptable.
20 bucks?? No way man. 5, at most.
@@MaxArceus I know I’m late, but I literally just bought ultra sun for $5 lol
@@phantomdetective2714 for 5 bucks, good deal
Bigger PokéDex should've been a free update, along with Mantine Surf, the better Victory Road, and completed trials for the last island (though Mina's trial would still have to be revised into something more substantial). Rainbow Rocket would've been the DLC on its own, making more sense after the Looker/Anabel quest rather than replacing it. To make the deal a bit better, throw in a more complex Ultra Megalopolis as well, as its own storyline rather than as a butchered version of SM's; maybe while Lusamine was still insane, other chief scientists like Faba sent in recon squads to know what was going on in the wormholes? And they would've discovered Necrozma like this, and the Ultra Recon Squad came back to Alola to find a strong trainer to take on that threat they found.
The way you talk about Rainbow Rocket just makes me wish that it was lead by Sun/Moon Lusamine instead of USUM Lusamine. It would also go into that whole different Alola thing.
Black and White 2 are truly the peak of mainline Pokemon games.
I couldn't finish my usum playthrough, now I'm happy for never ending this
I'm happy I didn't buy it.
I played all the alola games, yes all 4 four of them because I hate myself apparently, but the games are fun it's just that all the unskippable dialogue and tutorials of stuff you already know makes a little unbearable.
@@mitrimind1027 I wish I did that when the games came out, but alas it is too late...
bought this game thinking it would be like black 2/white 2. god was i disappointed... and then they added a layer.. M A N T I N E S U R F I N G
All hail the broken BP grinder, no more battle maison disguised as a tree!
Same, sorely dissapoinited this wasnt a sequel
sameee i felt so betrayed
Ultimately the ultra games are nowhere near the quality of other 3rd versions and truly have no reason to exist.
But you cant deny they are cash grabs. Why couldnt dp have the battle frontier like in emrald. Then litterally 1-2 yrs later Platinum came with a battle frontier. The storylines too. If you are gonna make the story horrible atleast delay the game. Nintendo and Gamefreak cant even do that because they think making the same game with better improvements would be good because they want money. At least they put wii u games on switch and not make another version of the games on the same console. Imagine having to buy a gba game just for a better fire type because you chose piplup.
I remember, one time, some of my beta testers where having trouble knwoing where to go next despite the game telling them stuff like "i should go home and prepare for my journey" or a pokemon that just stole from you running off to the east. Apparently that's too hard to figure out so I litterally had to not only make "flags" to make people realize where to go but I had to change parts of the text to red so people would pay attention to what is being said.
Are you a dev?
This all would have been fixed if they made the Ultra Update (Rainbow Rocket, Mantine Surf, Ultra Wormholes with the new UBs, Necrozma Episode, buy every Mega Stone, Photo Studio, Battle Agency, new Z Crystals, new Battle Tree and League trainers) on a $15 DLC instead of a full game, alongside the other game's clothe colors.
Honestly I would love to see Alola get a whole new system in a S/M sequel. Have the player start from a different island like Akala island with the main professor being Prof Burnet. Since the overall main theme and plot of them should still be the ultra wormholes. Starting the game off in Akala would be a interesting change to the game since this could introduce new changes like the gym system and make former trial areas whole new dungeons. The Alola gym leaders could consist of Akala’s Mallow, Lana, and Kiawe. Melemele’s Illyma, and Hau. Poni Island’s Ryusui. Then finally UlaUla’s Sophocles, and Guzma.
Mallow being the first gym leader was such an obvious idea. She's the grass type user, so it makes perfect sense.
I love the constant roasting of Masuda in this😂😂😂 Edit: I'm surprised I'm the top comment!
and this THE POKEMON COMPANY is the main problem.
You're not the top comment anymore!
18:08 "At least the gave us clothes!" Lmao, I've heard that the clothing options in Scarlet and Violet are gonna be restricted to a handful of different kinds of clothes appropriate as schoolwear. Apart from skirts though, since they don't want people getting upskirt shots of the characters.
12:59 No idea why they did that for Wallace, but there was a push for Iris as the face of Unova, which like Zoroark and the elemental monkeys, backfired immensely. 35:20 It's why I can't get behind Lusaminecraft's character in this game, because all the changes GF made to make her less villainous (probably because of her surging popularity?) doesn't add up to her actions in SM (which are of course still in this game because lazy)
I really like your videos and specially your streams. They really show you can give out a unique perspective and have a knack for insightful critique. Right now though, it feels like you’re Eminem in pre-Slim Shady days: pure young talent that is not meaningfully channeled into the polished diamond it should be. I still think you’re doing the right thing by producing videos you’re proud of, I just look forward to the day your videos truly reach their peak.
Ultra Moon was my first game. I used to enjoy it when I first played it, but looking at it now, it had SO MUCH wasted potential to be a sequel or so.
i thought it was gonna be like BW2 because of the ads. i felt betrayed
I literally agree with everything except your take on the ultra recon squad theme. it’s a bop.
The real problem with ultra necrozma is that he's geared to sweep you out of the gate. It's not a functionally fair fight outside of having knowledge of what is about to happen. So some people probably do feel good about the fight after getting thrashed multiple times. But when you realize what's really happening, it's the laziest "hard" fight they've made. One improvement I could see is that he over time gets stronger and stronger so you have to get to the point where he can sweep your team and if you do that's your bad. But nope, he's just boosted from the start.
I had a level 100 arceus during the entire game because of a wonder trade I never let it go out of my team.
Ah yes, the pokemon cold war.
I like usum though
The whole game is like tutorial.. you have to there and there.. a lot of unnecessary dialogue.. save the world ✖️ save lilie's world ✔️
Giovani was after Mewtwo in the game. It was just very subtle. You can piece it together from some contextual clues.
The biggest issue with USUM was that they were what sun and moon should have been from the beginning
I think if you look at them just by themselves, they're amazing pokemon games, but if you look at them with the context of when they released and how they're second versions, they are disappointing. They are what the original sun and moon should've been, and the refined version should be more different and add way more.
19:13 I saw that, you named yourself Lillie-eh just to prove a point. I see right through you...
I feel like the gameplay USUM was made for me, but it was by complete accident and at the expense of many other people's enjoyment: the difficulty is extremely high for a mainlike pokemon game. They basically took the original Sun/Moon formula, gave several trainers (including early ones) perfect IV pokemon, added some even more difficult trials (Ribombee ugggh), added Ultra Necrozma, and made the postgame an Uber gauntlet. Despite how much I liked it from a gameplay perspective, it was a really bad decision IMO if they wished to appeal to the casual playerbase. Also, yes, I think the story changes from SM to USUM were terrible with the lone exception of a bit of character development from Guzma.
this is basically a rant about Last Skywalker as well, seeing how often scenes were cut in from that movie lol
I keep hearing about how difficult Ultra Necrozma was. I just one shotted the damn thing with my starter Z-move.
speed is key
Same.
@@at-bazelgeuse umm... you're not out speeding that thing lmfao
The 10 level jump was very off putting. I ended up opting for Toxic stall. It worked, but was kinda disappointing. It’s like the choice was either grind or cheese. Both bad options.
Let's see if this affects my playthrough of Ultra Moon that I'm currently doing.
After playing these games, this was my first thought: "This should have been 10 dollar DLC for Sun&Moon. None of this justified buying new 50 dollar game. They have the eShop, they've used it multiple times to patch the Pokemon games. Just deliver the new content through there like every other company does." I wouldn't even be surprised if that was the original goal but then someone decided to instead push the envelope further than ever before and not only deliver the laziest 3rd version to date but also to split it into two and sell them in bundles just to hammer home that they think they can get away with everything. And to the credit of whoever came up with that experiment, it worked. It worked so well that a generation later people even bought separate DLC for the two unfinished games they preordered. This game really showed that you can get away with anything as long as it's called Pokemon. And I guess I'm not a one to complain. I bought Ultra Moon, I played it over 1000 hours and completed pretty much everything. But in my defense, those were the last Pokemon games I ever bought. Pokemon had always been the system seller for me, but the combination of USUM and news of cut corners and all the lies said to justify that finally convinced me that my time as fan of this series is over and from now on it's more fun to just point and laugh from the sidelines.
They should have made Ultra Necrozma an optional battle. They've should have let you have an option to sacrifice Nebby and the light of your world to Ultra Beast Arceus. He has been suffering for so long and you are forced to take away all of that hard work. And they didn't even bother making Ultra Megalopolis explorable. Add some invisible walls instead of purple barriers and make us go in the buildings plz!!!
Ultra Necrozma was easy Totem ribombee was EXTREMELY HARD
@@SMCwasTaken did you use a zoroark against him or something?
@@FoxGalahHasMovedToNewAccounts no i used Brionne against necrozma and then moonblasted it to death
@@SMCwasTaken How did the brionne not get KOed from one of his attacks?
@@FoxGalahHasMovedToNewAccounts revives
Oh boy, the video we have all waited
Ultra Megalopolis is underused!!!!!! It is just like a glorified hallway that gives the illusion of a big, bustling, alien city. Like they literally put barriers for no dumb reason. Like when you defeat Necrozma and return the poor dragon to what "everyone (even Gamefreak) think is its normal form", the barriers disappear, people and their Pokemon stop hiding and come out and you can explore the city. Maybe you can talk to the people and they'll give you items, advice and more stuff. Like can we please go inside every building. What if that the barriers are added when danger is nearby (like Necrozma). If my theory is true, WHEN EVERTHING BECOMES FINE AGAIN THEY DON'T GET REMOVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And why don't we have Necrozma in his Ultra form once you Ultra Burst him. Like when you return him back to his original state, you can dequip the Necrozium-Z (because that what it SHOULD be called) and it won't make him change form. After saving Necrozma (like the kind-to-a-god person you are), you can go to Ultra Megalopolis. But this time, Necrozma bursts out of its ball and gives light back to the world. People and pokemon are cheering. And people will give very very better good stuff, and even very very VERY rare items that are found in the world that they live in. Then you can actually go outside the city and explore routes, battle trainers, find more poipoles and naganadels, and EVEN NEW ULTRA BEASTS!!!!!!!!!! Maybe we can have an evil organisiation who want Necrozma's light gone and you have to save Necrozma and everyone else from them. Now all of the people who read this comment, PLEASE BEG FOR THIS TO HAPPEN!!!!!!!!! PLEASE GAMEFREAK MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!!!! BOMB THEIR VIDEOS WITH COMMENTS ABOUT THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I disagree but I respect your opinon. You also do have some good points- as someone who played Ultra Sun before Moon, they should of released ultra sun/moon as a free update or atleast dlc. I honestly wish just wish pokemon wasn’t all about money.
¿hey don't you mind if he will going to attack on the japanese pokémon franchise or is he might joking?
Usum was the straw that broke the camels back for me, I refuse purchase another pokemon property until they get their shit together.
Nice video! I’ve been wanting to replay gen 7 but haven’t been able to decide which game to play. This answered that question!
I'm still really pissed off we never went to Kanto and to see Lillie again. I remember being soo confused as to why the game felt like a retelling of the same story only much worse.
RIGHT i thought we would get some more lillie ;-;
@@violetsparkles5453 Am still very sad and disappointed about that. Now we will never get a chance. Gamefreak has moved on.
She's not even in let's go
@@KyleEvra they always do that, bring up a cool character or detail and just forget about it
@@craigpeoples9883 Fucking Mina is though, lol. Hell, they went out of their way to make Mina younger in LGPE, so Lillie and Gladion being in that game logically couldn't even happen. God, Gen 7 as a whole was such a fucking scam lmao
23:16 That's also a chicken sandwich not a burger
Imagine if the Ultra Wormhole took you to an alternate Alola, no wild Pokemon because of a cataclysmic event involving Necrosma where a type of evil Lillie used it to take over that universe's Aether Foundation from Lusamine, and types are mixed up... E.g., what ya gonna do when a Hydozard rocks up. That would have been a great post game and makes US/UM stand out from it's predecessor.
When I bought ultra moon, I was under the impression that it would be a sequel. I actually had a pretty fun time with it if I'm being honest. My only problems where the changes to the story and rainbow rocket. All I want is all the Pokemon back. I didn't spend 3 months transfering all of my pokemon from the first 7 gens just so that I could stare at them in home. I also bought this game on the cheap pre owned, so it was alright for what I bought it for. Sword and Shield still suck tho
What's insane about Minas island trial is that they could have had it both ways. It could have been a quest about challanging the trial captains again and then she ask you "All your experiences. I want you to capture the essence of your adventure into a painting." and then you could have drawn something that expresses how Alola makes you feel.
An easy fix for Team RR is to give the various leaders their own goals, it's clearly a shaky alliance considering their goals are all so different in their own games. Have the player team up with some of them & make deals in order to get them to backstab each other so that the super team destroys itself from the inside out. Also, Colres is here - yet he's not involved in the Ghetsis section of Team RR at all, and doesn't so much as mention Ghetsis in game afaik. Kind of weird for the chief scientist of Ghetsis - who used Ghetsis' own personal cult to fuel and fund his experiments and research - to not have so much as a passing mention of the man. Not even a post-Team RR "Oh, you battled an alternate universe Ghetsis? Interesting..." I did, however, overall enjoy the Team RR plotline. It was fun - it just could've been *soooooo* much better.
10:17 finally, someone understands how stupid those kind of people are
2 year later and these complaints are still relevant lol
Fast foward to 2028 and people will praise it and ignore the opinions
I just got Ultra Sun a few weeks ago, and the only issue that I have is finding some Pokémon. They're in the Pokèdex, but they're not in the wild? I'm so confused.
Now, let me put on the tinfoil hat. They made USUM as terrible as they did just so that people would stop wanting third versions so that they could sell dlc for the game and then once dlc are accepted they'll go into micro transactions
Kinda. I guess they would rather sell two games then a tird version especially if they can half arse it.
Problem is these games sold well anyway
go outside
@@TheRealValianceGD yes but no
Actually not too farfetched, considering people complained they weren't DLC when they were announced/released. Then we got the half-finished Sword and Shield and DLC for it to actually give you something else to do other than Max Raids (sort of). It's possible TPC and others saw those complaints and decided to attempt doing less work and slapping planned additional content as DLC after expanding it a little on top of it and essentially bait people complaining about it into buying it under the guise " B-But you asked for DLC instead of a third version! "
in my opinion the game went downhill with gen 5, got saved with gen 6 and completely destroyed with gen 7. and since then it got even worse
Pokémon 1984 editio- HOLY CRAP THAT COULD BE AN ACTUAL STORYLINE FOR A GAME
5 years later: "They may look shit but at least SwSh had trees..."
And every route didn't look as a fancy corridor for each Island.
These games aren’t great but they’re absolute masterpieces compared to what we are being served up in gen 9 💩💩💩
28:08 the best part imo
Agree
@@lordmasuda1337 yeah
For Rainbow Rocket I would've given most of the leaders an extra legendary or mythical so they have a team of 6. Would give Maxie/Archie Rayquaza or Deoxys in addition to Groudon/Kyogre (version dependent). Cyrus gets Giratina and Dialga/Palkia. Ghetsis can have Kyurem in addition to Reshiram/Zekrom. Zygarde for Lysandre and for Giovanni, throw in Mew.
Would Solar/Lunar Eclipse be better names (or just Total Eclipse for a complete version?)
Other than the mantine surf, I completely agree with you. I especially hate how they didn’t fix everything that people hated and instead they made things worse.
The missed potential of Ultra Space, Ultra Megalopolis and the Ultra Recon Squad pisses me off more than anything else the Pokémon franchise as a whole has ever done and likely ever will do. That's how much I hate it.
What an interesting concept with potential that wasn't fully tapped into. I can't wait to see how it expands in the switch ga- or you can just throw it away, sure GF why not? You've already thrown away your credibility might as well discard all your good ideas while you're at it.
I absolutely love generation 7 it's is by far my favorite pokemon gen but I can definitely agree with some of the complaints
28:57 The Nugget Bridge Kanto mod was actually in base SM as well. They appear in both games after Guzma is defeated
USUM was exhausting to play through after playing SM. I played through Sun and thought it was a nice game. Then I played through Moon and was like “holy shit there’s really a cutscene every 5 seconds.” Then I played through Ultra Sun and I just couldn’t finish it. It doesn’t feel like an adventure when every 5 steps I lose control of my character and I have to sit through a cutscene.
Deliciously long video my friend, and of good quality as well, nice work and keep doing great!