Alola Region Discussion Thread

[Aromatic Mist]

So is there a chance that we could get Surf early on?. Like maybe the HM after the first gym?

It's possible, considering the obvious surfing routes on this first island. While it's not uncommon to have surfing routes near the starting town (New Bark Town, Pallet Town), it'd be weird if we couldn't get surf until much later on and have to back track to this island again way later on, so there is a chance Surf may be an early HM.

Doubt we're getting a 90 Base Power move after the first gym, don't be daft

It'll most likely be like Hoenn, where we went on a boat, or Unova, with bridges.

 

[Aetius]

What kind of pokèmon do you think we'll find in the starting island?
Judging from what' we've got to see, it looks like there will be plethora of Bug, Flying, Water and Grass Pokèmon.
The bird Pokèmon we saw some time ago might be the regional bird.

 

[hydrosharp_98]

What kind of pokèmon do you think we'll find in the starting island?
Judging from what' we've got to see, it looks like there will be plethora of Bug, Flying, Water and Grass Pokèmon.
The bird Pokèmon we saw some time ago might be the regional bird.

Regional bird/rodent/bug seem a given at this this point, and I wouldn't be too surprised if we had the odd Water, Grass and Fire type lying around to add some coverage to our team early on.

Outside of that, I'd say it's fair game!

 

[Aromatic Mist]

I'm kinda expecting Meowth seeing it as that woman in the trailer has one, which could possibly indicate it appears early? But the 'dark' forest behind the stage makes me think Grass & Bug, maybe Dark, and very unlikely, Ghost. Maybe the Pan trio to add coverage? They were already in XY tho :x

 

[LePetitMeow]

What kind of pokèmon do you think we'll find in the starting island?
Judging from what' we've got to see, it looks like there will be plethora of Bug, Flying, Water and Grass Pokèmon.
The bird Pokèmon we saw some time ago might be the regional bird.

With the tropical region, it's kinda easy to expect all those types of Pokemon. Since Hawaii is abundant with marine, insect, and reptile life, it's no doubt they'd throw in Grass, Bug, Flying, Water, Poison types.

This island will probably have the staples: regional bird, normal type, some bug, maybe a grass or two, with the surfing routes having water Pokemon. If (and it most likely will be the case) we get all eight major islands for this region, then we'll probably only see a few new Pokemon mixed with several old ones per island (until we get to Hawaii island, which is nearly three times the size of Oahu so definitely more abundant Pokemon). It'd be nice to get a good team going prior to leaving the first island, so as long as this island holds some good Pokemon, that'll be satisfying. I always try to build a team as early as possible with enough variation to cover a number of type combos and am able to grind them from the beginning to better levels (such as in ORAS, I had Torchic, Seedot, Ralts, and Electrike by the third gym already, more than half of my final team, with half of the team being caught by the first gym).

 

[Aetius]

Regional bird/rodent/bug seem a given at this this point, and I wouldn't be too surprised if we had the odd Water, Grass and Fire type lying around to add some coverage to our team early on.

Outside of that, I'd say it's fair game!

We've probably got the general idea for the regional bird already, so we're okay on that front...
As for the bug and the rodent, I like the ideas that some users posted here on Serebii.
I'd really love to see a Bug/Dark Pokèmon and a Normal/Steel rodent.

 

[Master_Tyrell]

I was thinking they could use the whole Sevii Island idea. They have some strong currents at the beginning so we are forced to go by boat, and after some events the currents lessen and we can explore the waters more freely. That could be use as a way to block some water routes, in the off chance we are able to travel between all islands via surfing.

 

[unmindful]

I've read that about the biomes a lot of times, but somehow, I'm still unconvinced. Sure, there's snow atop of Mauna Kea, but there's snow atop of almost any mountain that is that high, and most of Hawaii is still tropical forests.

I don't know, maybe it's just that I'm a little tired of the tropical setting. By November, we will have been playing in a tropical region for two years, and having to play in Alola will mean another two years of the same kind of ecosystem.

The thing with Kalos is that I really feel that everything about it was incomplete. The plot was quite shallow and open-ended in comparison to that of Sinnoh and Unova, and Zygarde is literally just there to fill space. I think it's very, very strange that they built up all the hype for that Pokémon if they weren't going to put it in the next game. That would be the only reason why I think a Kalos visit is necessary. They need to wrap it up.

Still a pretty diverse biome, especially in comparison to Hoenn. Not every tropical setting is the exact same just because it's the tropics.

I agree that Kalos main plot was lacking, but it's done. Zygarde was a non-entity for XY game story, but that doesn't mean a completely new region (which is likely to be far away from Kalos if the Strange Souvenir is indeed from Alola) with new characters, legendaries, etc. needs to go back to Kalos to start a Zygarde plot. Its heightened importance in the anime seems like it's to make up for its lack of importance in the games.

 

[Aetius]

I'm kinda expecting Meowth seeing it as that woman in the trailer has one, which could possibly indicate it appears early? But the 'dark' forest behind the stage makes me think Grass & Bug, maybe Dark, and very unlikely, Ghost. Maybe the Pan trio to add coverage? They were already in XY tho :x

I'd like not to have any of the older Pokèmon in Alola...
I wish they would do the same thing they did with BW; completely new Pokèmon.
In my opinion, XY was overcrowded with them...

 

[Aromatic Mist]

I was thinking they could use the whole Sevii Island idea. They have some strong currents at the beginning so we are forced to go by boat, and after some events the currents lessen and we can explore the waters more freely.

They could just have it not be all currents and limit us by not giving us Surf... like they have since the series begun

 

[Aetius]

With the tropical region, it's kinda easy to expect all those types of Pokemon. Since Hawaii is abundant with marine, insect, and reptile life, it's no doubt they'd throw in Grass, Bug, Flying, Water, Poison types.

This island will probably have the staples: regional bird, normal type, some bug, maybe a grass or two, with the surfing routes having water Pokemon. If (and it most likely will be the case) we get all eight major islands for this region, then we'll probably only see a few new Pokemon mixed with several old ones per island (until we get to Hawaii island, which is nearly three times the size of Oahu so definitely more abundant Pokemon). It'd be nice to get a good team going prior to leaving the first island, so as long as this island holds some good Pokemon, that'll be satisfying. I always try to build a team as early as possible with enough variation to cover a number of type combos and am able to grind them from the beginning to better levels (such as in ORAS, I had Torchic, Seedot, Ralts, and Electrike by the third gym already, more than half of my final team, with half of the team being caught by the first gym).

I'm really looking forward to what they'll create with such premises!
As for the training part, I too go down that path, simply because I too love training Pokèmon with different typings for my teams.
Moreover, I love to be surprised when a new Pokèmon evolves, because you don't know yet what it will become!

 

[Master_Tyrell]

They could just have it not be all currents and limit us by not giving us Surf... like they have since the series begun

I did some edit to my post, but I do not think Surf will be available early on. The earliest I see us getting Surf is around the 3rd Gym, which could be on another island.

 

[Munchy]

Now, imagine flying/soaring from OR/AS returning in these games - flying over a set of islands would be really cool.

 

[LePetitMeow]

I'm really looking forward to what they'll create with such premises!
As for the training part, I too go down that path, simply because I too love training Pokèmon with different typings for my teams.
Moreover, I love to be surprised when a new Pokèmon evolves, because you don't know yet what it will become!

Exactly! I know I've stuck around to find out about the region, the legends, and the starters, but I'm honestly going to try to avoid any spoilers about any more new Pokemon as much as possible. I'd like for this region to be extremely new and fresh! I'm also hoping for less old Pokemon to be included pre-National Dex in the routes, as this region seems to be so far off from everything else, it'd be one of the migration things that animals do in the real world (Kalos had tons of Pokemon from various regions due to it being landlocked and capable of having Pokemon migrate from region to region). Here it would be islands far away from everything, so here's to hoping for a ton of new Pokemon!

Still a pretty diverse biome, especially in comparison to Hoenn. Not every tropical setting is the exact same just because it's the tropics.

I agree that Kalos main plot was lacking, but it's done. Zygarde was a non-entity for XY game story, but that doesn't mean a completely new region (which is likely to be far away from Kalos if the Strange Souvenir is indeed from Alola) with new characters, legendaries, etc. needs to go back to Kalos to start a Zygarde plot. Its heightened importance in the anime seems like it's to make up for its lack of importance in the games.

Exactly my thoughts on this subject. Revisiting Kalos in this gen seems highly disjointed. Kalos is based on France, halfyway across the world. Why would we go from a Hawaii-region to Kalos? That's highly irregular and doesn't make a lot of sense. The anime is dealing with Ash-Greninja and Zygarde on their own, making them anime-exclusive. Honestly, I'm happy we didn't get Z now. Working with the Core, Cell, 10%, and Complete forms would have been one hell of a nightmare to work into logistics and plot: Do you collect cells? How many are there? Cores? Do you need both? Is moving through the forms like evolution or is it a temporary thing based on how many cells you have? Are they scattered? What happens if you don't pick them all up on the progression through the main story? Do you get them as gifts? Or what? See? Too many questions about how that would have worked...

 

[szmty]

Still a pretty diverse biome, especially in comparison to Hoenn. Not every tropical setting is the exact same just because it's the tropics.

I agree that Kalos main plot was lacking, but it's done. Zygarde was a non-entity for XY game story, but that doesn't mean a completely new region (which is likely to be far away from Kalos if the Strange Souvenir is indeed from Alola) with new characters, legendaries, etc. needs to go back to Kalos to start a Zygarde plot. Its heightened importance in the anime seems like it's to make up for its lack of importance in the games.

The problem with that is that Zygarde's forms are also in the TCG. Really, it doesn't make much sense to keep Zygarde out of the next games after so much promotion. Let's remember that Zygarde is related to the Earth, so it could have something to do with the new legendaries as well.

Speaking about legendaries, Magearna doesn't look too Hawaiian, but rather steampunk, and it's said she was built during the Renaissance. I wonder what's going on with that too.

Another thing that bugs me about Alola is that the Honolulu equivalent looks small, especially if we compare it to Castelia or Lumiose. Since there are no other large cities in Hawaii, I'm also wondering if they'll build a new, completely fictional city as a "hub" for the region.

 

[Wadeledge]

I'd like not to have any of the older Pokèmon in Alola...
I wish they would do the same thing they did with BW; completely new Pokèmon.
In my opinion, XY was overcrowded with them...

I actually feel like it was a small misstep to completely exclude old Pokemon in BW. I will always have only new Pokemon in my first play-through but others that don't should have the option available to them. I have friends that were turned off BW purely because they weren't given the choice, even if they wouldn't have taken it. It also helps people accept the new Pokemon if they see them surrounded by old Pokemon. Makes them blend in more, imo.

XY's problem was how few new Pokemon they have, I'm hoping to get around 100-120 new Pokemon this gen compared to the 70 from last gen.

Besides some old Pokemon fit in so well with the Hawaiian theme. Tropius, Bellossom, etc...

 

[PrinceOfFacade]

Given the unalterable fact that the map we were given only has, at most, 4 towns/cities, it is safe to assume that there is in fact more islands.

https://imgur.com/gallery/6pDLo

I have painstakingly (because I did it on ny phone) highlighted where I think the cities and routes are. I probably forgot to highlight some routes but you get the basic idea. If you could tell me where 8 gyms, the starting city, and the Elite 4 go, then I'd be open to hear it.

You are the first person to help me see the map as more than one city, so thank you.

It would still be nice to receive official confirmation that there are multiple islands in Alola. Maybe, just maybe, we can get that in CoroCoro.

 

[Red and Blue]

You are the first person to help me see the map as more than one city, so thank you.

I would still be nice to receive official confirmation that there are multiple islands in Alola. Maybe, just maybe, we can get that in CoroCoro.

Do you really need confirmation?. What kind of sense would it make to have an entire region on one tiny island?

 

[Class Zero]

Given the unalterable fact that the map we were given only has, at most, 4 towns/cities, it is safe to assume that there is in fact more islands.

https://imgur.com/gallery/6pDLo

I have painstakingly (because I did it on ny phone) highlighted where I think the cities and routes are. I probably forgot to highlight some routes but you get the basic idea. If you could tell me where 8 gyms, the starting city, and the Elite 4 go, then I'd be open to hear it.

That's some dodgy perspective.. it makes everything, the towns and routes, look so small, now...

 

[crystalphoenix88]

That's some dodgy perspective.. it makes everything, the towns and routes, look so small, now...

He did say "at most 4 towns/cities" - so it could be even less than that if some of the areas he circled aren't actually separate towns/cities. The greater point still being: there's no way that one island contains an entire new region.