Speaker A
You start off by having just moved to Mele Mele Island from the Kanto region. You meet Professor Kukui, who is way too relaxed. I mean, this man is wearing a lab coat, but he's shirtless underneath it. That defeats the entire point of a lab coat. He eventually will let you pick a starter Pokémon between Litten, Popplio, and Rowlet. I know this might be divisive, but I really like these starters. At first, I did not at all, but they've really grown on me over time. I didn't like how they turned Litten into a bipedal cat. It had four legs to start and had two legs to finish, and I didn't really get that. But over time, every single starter in this generation has grown on me, especially Rowlet. Look at that little bow tie and tell me he's not one of the best Pokémon of all time. But before you can even pick your starter Pokémon, you meet Lillie. She's a mysterious trainer who is a bad bag that's definitely not full of secret alien Pokémon. She introduces you to Nebby, who's an adorable but alarmingly powerful little guy who you rescue from a bunch of wild Pokémon who want to eat his eyeballs. But once you pick your starter, you start the island challenge. You also meet your rival. Hau is not a terrible rival, but he's not that great either. He's a friendly rival who's trying to compete against you to be the first person to complete the island challenge. But considering that, Hau is just as laid-back as the professor. I could say that he needs anything more than what he is. He lacks anything that gives me the drive to want to beat him. He's fine, but overall, I don't dislike him, but he's not very memorable. There's also Team Skull, who's this region's villain organization that is really lackluster. I understand they're supposed to be this way because of the culture of the region and how they're in the pocket of another organization, but they just look and act like absolute fools. They are really, really dumb, and it's frustrating because unlike a lot of other villain organizations, they're not menacing; they're just frustrating. That being said, I will say that I like that they're a change of pace from the other organizations. They didn't try and make another Team Galactic or Team Plasma. They really tried to make something that was one of a kind here. They're led by Guzma, and he's fine. I wouldn't say that he's interesting, but he does have some cool Pokémon. There's also Gladion, who's Team Skull's enforcer, who's more so a second rival than anything else. I would say he's most similar to Hugh from Pokémon Black and White 2. He's an edgy rival who has his own motivations, but he's got a lot more going on than trying to get back a cat, like trying to destroy the entire Aether Foundation. Now, everything I said was wrong about Team Skull is right in the Aether Foundation. On the surface, there are a bunch of Pokémon scientists who want to save endangered Pokémon, but of course, they're not all that nice. They really want to capture Ultra Beasts, which are interdimensional Pokémon that are wildly strong. Their leader is Lusamine, who's the Aether Foundation president, who is somehow both a Pokémon lover and clinically insane. They end up opening a wormhole, and out pops an Ultra Beast. This is the first time anyone has seen an Ultra Beast, and instead of deciding never to do this again, they decide they want to control them. This causes more and more issues as time goes on, and Lusamine becomes driven by the need to control the Ultra Beast and become insanely powerful. They end up capturing Nebby and try and use him to control the Ultra Beasts, and you have to break into the Aether Foundation's base to get him back. Of course, like any villain in a Pokémon game, Lusamine has gone completely insane. Instead of admitting defeat and admitting she's wrong, she decides to summon an Ultra Beast and merge with it. Oh, why would she do that? And becomes either Sigilyph or Lunala, depending on the version of the game you have. You travel to Ultra Space for the final showdown against Lusamine, who is now fully fused with an Ultra Beast. After saving her, you return to Alola just in time to ascend Mount Lanakila, and you get to face the ultimate challenge, becoming the first ever champion of the Alola region. After facing off against the Elite Four and the surprise champion, you're crowned the first ever Alola champion. And of course, there was loads more to do once you beat the main story. And of course, there's so much more I didn't cover during the story synopsis, so I really recommend checking out this or Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon to get the full story. And there was also an incredible post-game story. But before we get into that, I just want to say thank you for 5,000 subscribers. I never thought that I would get here, and it's all thanks to you guys. I'm about to do my huge 5,000 subscriber giveaway, so make sure you subscribe, drop a like, and comment on this video to make sure you're eligible to win. Pokémon Sun and Moon have a unique story, and some people think it's a good thing and others not so much. I really like the story. I think it was a good change of pace considering gens 4, 5, and 6 had a much darker story about world domination and war. Having to deal with alien Pokémon changes it up a bit, and I think the dynamic between Team Skull and the Aether Foundation was great too because they were so wildly different. It was a great contrast. Team Skull served as more of a comic relief than anything else, which was a good idea because having another story about the end of the world would have been beating a dead horse. But in my opinion, where this game really shined was the post-game. It had its own secondary story about the international police led by Looker, who have you capture Ultra Beasts who are running loose around Alola, which not only offered a unique story in the postgame similar to the Delta episode, it also was a fun way to explore the entire region again and see what was going on after the calamity that had happened. And after rounding up all of the Ultra Beasts, you get a fight with Necrozma, a Pokémon that is definitely not going to cause more trouble in the next games. But there was even more than the additional story. There was your Battle Tree, which was beating waves of additional trainers, catching the island guardians, and so much more. With all of these things to do in the post-game, I think that's the most underrated aspect of these titles. A lot of the modern Pokémon games don't have a lot to do after you beat the story, but this had a solid amount of content to keep you playing long after you beat the game. And of course, this released during the gimmick era of Pokémon. After the incredible success of Mega Evolutions, for some reason, the Pokémon Company decided not to continue making new ones and instead opted for the new gimmick, Z-Moves. Now, after you beat the game, you could still use Mega Evolutions, but during the main story, all you had access to was the new Z-Move mechanic. Z-Moves were extremely powerful forms of Pokémon moves that did loads of damage. By giving your Pokémon a Z-Crystal to hold, once per battle, they could use an extremely strong form of their standard moves. Of course.
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