Little things you like about Pokémon

CPU

pika pal said:
I guess where I disagree on the story tone there is that USUM aren't light in and of themselves, but they feel a bit less dark from the previous games.

My basis for this primarily pertains to the story climax, as S/M is smaller in scope but also feels more grounded in its subject matter. It's not about stopping an Apocalyptic event, just dealing with the fallout of a broken and abusive family life, without a lot of innuendo or obfuscation for younger players. Rainbow Rocket gets some "theme park" vibes to me given the whole premise is "here's a throwback to all the big villain bosses", even if contextually they are taken seriously, on a meta level there's a concession to having them there at all.

The resolution also sort of gets me. S/M Lillie and Lusamine start a path to healing, but things aren't "fixed" as soon as you beat the antagonist, with Lusamine still very sick (physically and possible mentally), Gladion's side of the issue not necessarily resolved, and Lillie not being able to stay with her friends or found family in an effort to help her Mom in spite of everything. US/UM by comparison has a conflict that can be and sort of IS resolved as soon as you defeat Ultra Necrozma, since the scars don't run emotionally deep, and even Rainbow Rocket, despite escalating the conflict, is very impersonal and disconnected from the main story one.

That's the main thing I think makes S/M stick out to people: The consequences don't end with the Crisis the way they do in most games (Gen 1-4 the teams kind of disband after you stop their big gambit, Gen 5 leaves N as a hanging thread which similarly made the character stick with players), which makes the S/M plot feel less idealized or like a "means to an end" to contextualize the gameplay journey, which I will say even about several gens I like such as Gens 3-4 and a lot of SV's main campaign paths.
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I should probably replay both games at some point (so forgive me if this isn't totally accurate), but SM essentially tells Lillie's story. You're the protagonist, sure, but she's the main character of the story. She's important in USUM but with how the story is structured, the player character is more of a main character there.
 
R_N

R_N

is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
Back during USUM there was a wave(s) of merchandise around the Ultra Beasts and they were all accompanied by some stellar artwork showcasing their worlds. The Paradoxes have sort of a "sequel" set of merch that tries to capture the same vibe



Obviously since they're only really associated with Area Zero there's not as much variety and they focused on group shots, but it's nice artwork regardless.
https://www.pokemon.co.jp/goods/2024/05/240510_st01.html
 
bdt2002

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
CPU said:
I should probably replay both games at some point (so forgive me if this isn't totally accurate), but SM essentially tells Lillie's story. You're the protagonist, sure, but she's the main character of the story. She's important in USUM but with how the story is structured, the player character is more of a main character there.
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I've heard some sources compare the Aether Foundation family to rival characters from previous main series installments, notably Silver from the Johto games and N from the Unova duology. For years I've said that Black & White 1 felt like paired versions where the player character wasn't the true main character of the story, with someone like N filling that role instead for a change. Gen 5's release structure is very comparable to that of the Gen 7 Alola titles, and an argument can definitely be made that there are parallels between N and Reshiram/Zekrom and Lillie and Solgaleo/Lunala ("Nebby") here. Gladion himself lines up a bit better with the comparison to Silver in my opinion, but all four of Silver, N, and the two Aether Foundation siblings have the whole "evil parent" thing in common, a major backstory detail that was noticeably toned down for Lusamine's Ultra Sun & Moon iteration for better or worse, depending on who you ask.

R_N said:
Back during USUM there was a wave(s) of merchandise around the Ultra Beasts and they were all accompanied by some stellar artwork showcasing their worlds. The Paradoxes have sort of a "sequel" set of merch that tries to capture the same vibe



Obviously since they're only really associated with Area Zero there's not as much variety and they focused on group shots, but it's nice artwork regardless.
https://www.pokemon.co.jp/goods/2024/05/240510_st01.html
Click to expand...
CPU said:
There was also Daisuki Club art featuring the UBs wreaking havoc in the Pokémon world and the art for Kartana upsets me because it's missing the yellow "frills" on its body.



Overall they're all really cool pieces of artwork, though; I sourced it from here.
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You guys definitely aren't the first ones to draw comparisons between the Ultra Beasts and the Paradox Pokémon. Both Gen 7 and Gen 9 were part of what I've been calling "the Shigeru Ohmori era" of the main series (Gens 7-present) following in the footsteps of the Satoshi Tajiri era (Gens 1-2) and the Junichi Masuda era (Gens 3-6). A similar parallel can also be found between the Tapus and the Treasures of Ruin, but that's beside the point. To Ohmori's credit, both of these groups of Pokémon feel like they're exploring this kind of "out of this world", almost "unfamiliar" vibe that adds to both the games' storytelling narratives and the multiplayer competitive scene. I'm interested to see, which group of Pokémon do you guys prefer? I'm personally leaning towards the Ultra Beasts, but that's admittedly in part because we got to go into the Ultra Wormholes but not the Area Zero time machine.
 
Coronis

Coronis

Impressively round
is a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
bdt2002 said:
I've heard some sources compare the Aether Foundation family to rival characters from previous main series installments, notably Silver from the Johto games and N from the Unova duology. For years I've said that Black & White 1 felt like paired versions where the player character wasn't the true main character of the story, with someone like N filling that role instead for a change. Gen 5's release structure is very comparable to that of the Gen 7 Alola titles, and an argument can definitely be made that there are parallels between N and Reshiram/Zekrom and Lillie and Solgaleo/Lunala ("Nebby") here. Gladion himself lines up a bit better with the comparison to Silver in my opinion, but all four of Silver, N, and the two Aether Foundation siblings have the whole "evil parent" thing in common, a major backstory detail that was noticeably toned down for Lusamine's Ultra Sun & Moon iteration for better or worse, depending on who you ask.



You guys definitely aren't the first ones to draw comparisons between the Ultra Beasts and the Paradox Pokémon. Both Gen 7 and Gen 9 were part of what I've been calling "the Shigeru Ohmori era" of the main series (Gens 7-present) following in the footsteps of the Satoshi Tajiri era (Gens 1-2) and the Junichi Masuda era (Gens 3-6). A similar parallel can also be found between the Tapus and the Treasures of Ruin, but that's beside the point. To Ohmori's credit, both of these groups of Pokémon feel like they're exploring this kind of "out of this world", almost "unfamiliar" vibe that adds to both the games' storytelling narratives and the multiplayer competitive scene. I'm interested to see, which group of Pokémon do you guys prefer? I'm personally leaning towards the Ultra Beasts, but that's admittedly in part because we got to go into the Ultra Wormholes but not the Area Zero time machine.
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Personally, I found the wormhole plot more interesting, and whilst a large number of Paradox designs kinda felt… stale for me (particularly future ones) the UBs and their environments were all cool and distinct for me.

Just the general concept of the mons too - crazy mons from different universes vs old/newer versions of pre-existing Pokemon, one definitely sounds more appealing to me.
 
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