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General Discussion & Speculation Thread

Wulava

danger chili pepper
Staff member
Moderator
Here's the list of all the changes that can be seen on the upgraded map.

- The Hau'oli Shopping District exterior has been changed
- Empty lot on Hau'oli City now has Alola Photo Club
- There's a new beach area on Route 2
- Kala'e Bay has more land

- New beach area next to Tide Song Hotel
- New building on previously empty lot next to Pokemon Center in Heahea City
- New building on previously empty lot next to Pokemon Center in Royal Avenue
- Empty lot on Konikoni City now has Alola Photo Club
- Volcanic steam on Wela Volcano Park and Route 7 is gone

- New building on previously empty lot in Malie City
- Small buildings added on Secluded Shore
- Rain clouds over Po Town and Route 17 are gone
- There's a side area with a huge crater(?) on Mount Lanakila by the elevator

- Rock Shelf on Poni Wilds beach is gone
- ROck Shelf has been added to Poni Breaker Coast
- Sinister clouds over Poni Island

- While technically not new in the game, the entrance of the Pokemon League is now present in the artwork.


Still, I don't think this is everything. They might have purposefully left things unchanged. For example, the vacant lots on Seafolk Village and Tapu Village was left empty.

Also, while not evident on the map, we've seen new places such as the area with bunch of Pikachus, and the area with the trainers with conical hats. Exeggutor Island seems to have been upgraded as well.

I personally wouldn't judge the region based on map alone because as I've said, it does not show everything.
 

Hoennking

Well-Known Member
Nothing I seen from news made go wow I really want to play this game.

Only thing that peak my interest a bit is ryuki that's it
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
Here's the list of all the changes that can be seen on the upgraded map.

- The Hau'oli Shopping District exterior has been changed
- Empty lot on Hau'oli City now has Alola Photo Club
- There's a new beach area on Route 2
- Kala'e Bay has more land

- New beach area next to Tide Song Hotel
- New building on previously empty lot next to Pokemon Center in Heahea City
- New building on previously empty lot next to Pokemon Center in Royal Avenue
- Empty lot on Konikoni City now has Alola Photo Club
- Volcanic steam on Wela Volcano Park and Route 7 is gone

- New building on previously empty lot in Malie City
- Small buildings added on Secluded Shore
- Rain clouds over Po Town and Route 17 are gone
- There's a side area with a huge crater(?) on Mount Lanakila by the elevator

- Rock Shelf on Poni Wilds beach is gone
- ROck Shelf has been added to Poni Breaker Coast
- Sinister clouds over Poni Island

- While technically not new in the game, the entrance of the Pokemon League is now present in the artwork.


Still, I don't think this is everything. They might have purposefully left things unchanged. For example, the vacant lots on Seafolk Village and Tapu Village was left empty.

Also, while not evident on the map, we've seen new places such as the area with bunch of Pikachus, and the area with the trainers with conical hats. Exeggutor Island seems to have been upgraded as well.

I personally wouldn't judge the region based on map alone because as I've said, it does not show everything.

That's all pretty minor stuff though, we don't see any new areas here and there's not enough room for any big ones. Still pales in comparison to the likes of BW2, and I'm not even sure we'll see Emerald levels of changes to the region. There's only so much they can do without adding new islands, and they don't seem to have done that here (nor do I expect them to).
 

Pokemon Fan

Knuckle Trainer
That's all pretty minor stuff though, we don't see any new areas here and there's not enough room for any big ones. Still pales in comparison to the likes of BW2, and I'm not even sure we'll see Emerald levels of changes to the region. There's only so much they can do without adding new islands, and they don't seem to have done that here (nor do I expect them to).
There were some areas in the original games that weren't able to be explored at all though, like the golf course. One can assume those at least will be available.

The removal of the barrier rocks off one side of Poni makes me think we'll be able to surf to Exeggutor Island, and perhaps elsewhere.
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
There were some areas in the original games that weren't able to be explored at all though, like the golf course. One can assume those at least will be available.

There's a lot of things we assume Game Freak will do and then they don't do them. Not getting my hopes up for that, especially when there's been many other areas in Kalos and Alola that look like they should be explored and aren't.

The removal of the barrier rocks off one side of Poni makes me think we'll be able to surf to Exeggutor Island, and perhaps elsewhere.

Padding, all that would mean is that instead of fading to black and warping straight there you get the privilege of being annoyed by Tentacools on your way over there.
 

Wulava

danger chili pepper
Staff member
Moderator
To be fair, area-wise, Emerald really didn't add much. The primary change were aesthetics and the Battle Frontier. Same goes for Platinum.

USUM appears to go with the same approach. Same region, but with better aesthetics. We don't know if they did something new with the Battle Tree though. It's still there however.

Personally, I do not expect B2W2-like additions here. These aren't sequels after all.
I can understand why people expect so much. But this is not a new generation. This is not a remake. It's a third version.
 

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
I like the redesigns of the playable characters as well as the new map of Alola's islands. The dark spiraling cloud reminds me of the Distortion World cloud from Platinum's Sinnoh map, tho I'm guessing that this cloud has something to do with Necrozma.
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
To be fair, area-wise, Emerald really didn't add much. The primary change were aesthetics and the Battle Frontier. Same goes for Platinum.

USUM appears to go with the same approach. Same region, but with better aesthetics. We don't know if they did something new with the Battle Tree though. It's still there however.

Emerald at least had some extra areas like Mirage Tower, Magma Hideout, Desert Underpass, the expanded Safari Zone. I don't even think we'll get that much.

Personally, I do not expect B2W2-like additions here. These aren't sequels after all.
I can understand why people expect so much. But this is not a new generation. This is not a remake. It's a third version.

Just because it's a third version doesn't mean the region needs to be a copy/paste. It's an alternate universe, they can take some liberties. Just as long as the core experience remains the same, there's a lot they can do to change up the experience regardless of whether or not it's a sequel or third version.
 

landipan

Well-Known Member
I really hope that scene where a Rockruff is following you means that your Pokemon can walk with you now! Hopefully it's not just a mini game/challenge!

I also still really wish we will get more Alolan forms, but it's starting to feel kind of unlikely. But we'll see in the coming months I suppose!
 

Jadgirl04

Lilac Dungeoneer
Personally, I do not expect B2W2-like additions here. These aren't sequels after all.
I can understand why people expect so much. But this is not a new generation. This is not a remake. It's a third version.

I think it's because it's been so long since we've had a true 3rd version, the last one must have been Platinum. I'm happy with the amount of new content so far, we've had barely any information even after today and it just seems unfair people are saying there s no content when really, all we've been shown is new- it's just not a lot of info in the first place.
(I also remember people crying out that BW2 had too much new content, and it was just a cheap way of keeping fans busy. People will never be happy, best just be happy yourself and don't let others spoil it =P )
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
(I also remember people crying out that BW2 had too much new content, and it was just a cheap way of keeping fans busy. People will never be happy, best just be happy yourself and don't let others spoil it =P )

LOL what? I never heard anyone complain about that. Everyone I've seen was impressed with the scale of change that BW2 offered and appreciated the attempt to create a fresh experience in an old region. In a lot of ways that game has really raised the bar for this fanbase, now that Game Freak has shown what they can really do with old regions when they actually try fans want that to be the new standard.
 

Jadgirl04

Lilac Dungeoneer
LOL what? I never heard anyone complain about that. Everyone I've seen was impressed with the scale of change that BW2 offered and appreciated the attempt to create a fresh experience in an old region. In a lot of ways that game has really raised the bar for this fanbase, now that Game Freak has shown what they can really do with old regions when they actually try fans want that to be the new standard.

Mmmhh it was really odd, especially since yeah, they were good games. It was reallyyyy early on though, I kinda just brought it up to point out that first Impressions, while being important, can also be vastly different from the final product. I won't mind if USUM turns out to be "not great(tm)" but there's always a discouraging atmosphere around 3rd games that turn people off of them before there s even that much to go off of.

One thing that I will be basing a few judgements on though is post-game. SUMO was definitely better than XY, but still felt lacking in content, or what there was wasn't really that engaging. I mean the Zygarde cells, really? They were fun for a while but... or I could just be salty I'm missing one. XD
 

Wulava

danger chili pepper
Staff member
Moderator
Mannnn, I hope all the new buildings filling those spots aren't the photo studios

From the looks of it, only Hau'oli and Konikoni shared the same Photo Club building.
The rest have different buildings.

Emerald at least had some extra areas like Mirage Tower, Magma Hideout, Desert Underpass, the expanded Safari Zone. I don't even think we'll get that much.

Again, to be fair, these areas aren't evident on the map itself. A lot of areas in Alola are also not seen on the map -- mostly caverns and ruins.
We currently have no idea how many new areas we're getting.


Story-wise, we know that it centers on Necrozma. But we really have no idea how they'll change it up. Especially now that we still have no idea what they did with the old characters.

Gameplay-wise, all we have for now are new Z-moves and the Alola Photo Club feature. We really haven't seen much.
 

Sulfurian

Well-Known Member
There's one big thing I'm really hopeful for in these games: the option to visit the ultra beasts in their home turf. We briefly visited a small portion to fight lusamine, but I hope that giant portal on the map is a hint that ultra space may be a mini-region we hope for.
 

Satoshi & Touko

Peanuts aren't just a nut.
Gameplay-wise, all we have for now are new Z-moves and the Alola Photo Club feature. We really haven't seen much.

This is still so, so much better than a simple form reveal of an already existing Pokemon. At least I can patiently wait for potential September news now. :D

As a side note, there's a lot of negativity concerning the new Alola Photo Club feature that I've seen about the internet. :/
 

Trainer Yusuf

VolcaniNO
Assuming the stands in beaches are move tutors, there are five of them, as opposed to B2W2's and ORAS' four.

Granted, the one in Melemele has a sign near it, so it might be something else.
 
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