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Looking back on Gen 7
- Thread starter Ignition
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Xuxuba
Well-Known Member
Most of my happiest memories were waiting for a trailer to drop and watching them after coming home.
But once it was released, i didn't really like the games all that much to be honest. I did enjoy facing totem pokémon though. It was a nice challenge in my opinion. So i guess that counts as a good memory.
But once it was released, i didn't really like the games all that much to be honest. I did enjoy facing totem pokémon though. It was a nice challenge in my opinion. So i guess that counts as a good memory.
Dragalge
"Orange" Magical Girl
Going into SM blind towards its release and discovering Dhelmise when facing Acelora.
Actually I managed to learn a decent chunk of stuff that wasn’t datamined/spoiled before release. That being:
Characters: Acelora, Nanu, Hapu, Mina, Ryuki, Molayne, Kahili, Kukui being the final fight, Looker/Anabel’s appearance, Red & Green (sorta. I saw them by accident but forgot they were in until I got to the Battle Tree lol), & the cameos of Sina, Dexio, Colress, & Grimsley.
Pokemon: Pikipek’s evolutions, Alolan Diglett, Mareanie line, Dewpider line, Salazzle, Golisopod, Alolan Geodude line, Dhelmise, Cosmog, Cosmoem, Tapu Lele, & Tapu Fini. The rest not mentioned was because I gave up remaining unspoiled & getting to Tapu Bulu being a ***** to get to through that desert.
It was overall impressive I managed to see all this unspoiled compared to XY’s release where I gave in the broken street date stuff lol.
Really stinks I couldn’t resist seeing the rest of the UBs after Pheromosa too. Discovering Xurkitree, Celesteela, Guzzlord, & Necrozma would have been awesome haha.
I think I liked Gen VII as much as Gen VI but for different reasons.Gens IV & V always will be best gens
Actually I managed to learn a decent chunk of stuff that wasn’t datamined/spoiled before release. That being:
Characters: Acelora, Nanu, Hapu, Mina, Ryuki, Molayne, Kahili, Kukui being the final fight, Looker/Anabel’s appearance, Red & Green (sorta. I saw them by accident but forgot they were in until I got to the Battle Tree lol), & the cameos of Sina, Dexio, Colress, & Grimsley.
Pokemon: Pikipek’s evolutions, Alolan Diglett, Mareanie line, Dewpider line, Salazzle, Golisopod, Alolan Geodude line, Dhelmise, Cosmog, Cosmoem, Tapu Lele, & Tapu Fini. The rest not mentioned was because I gave up remaining unspoiled & getting to Tapu Bulu being a ***** to get to through that desert.
It was overall impressive I managed to see all this unspoiled compared to XY’s release where I gave in the broken street date stuff lol.
Really stinks I couldn’t resist seeing the rest of the UBs after Pheromosa too. Discovering Xurkitree, Celesteela, Guzzlord, & Necrozma would have been awesome haha.
I think I liked Gen VII as much as Gen VI but for different reasons.
Auraninja
Eh, ragazzo!
I like the "self-discovery" motif that the region had. I liked being able to travel around each isle and finding interesting environs within just these small islands.
I liked the story, but I wish the reigns were let loose a tad bit more. We could go through some of these places without having to have a story drop.
I think a bit of "show don't tell" would have also benefited the games.
Despite the flaws people point out, I really like the games, both the original and Ultra series, and the region was my second favorite after Hoenn.
Edit: Also, I found out the shiny animation before many even had the game, lol.
I liked the story, but I wish the reigns were let loose a tad bit more. We could go through some of these places without having to have a story drop.
I think a bit of "show don't tell" would have also benefited the games.
Despite the flaws people point out, I really like the games, both the original and Ultra series, and the region was my second favorite after Hoenn.
Edit: Also, I found out the shiny animation before many even had the game, lol.
Leonhart
Imagineer
I don't have any favorite memories of the Gen VII games, as cynical as that may sound. I quite liked the set up of the Alola region as well as many of the Pokemon designs, but this generation of Pokemon was mostly a blur to me since nothing about the Alola games as exceptional or memorable in a positive way to me. One of my worst experiences was the cut-scenes however. There were too many of them during the main storylines. I also wasn't pleased that Meltan and Melmetal were exclusive to the Kanto remakes.
Golden_Latias
#SlayQueenSlay
Gen VII is still in the "trash" phase of the Pokemon Cycle and likely will remain there until Gen VIII is almost over, so I don't think many people are going to have much nice to say about it other than "it's over, good riddance.
I feel like one of the few people that actually enjoyed Gen VII, so I guess I'll say some stuff.
And I'm gonna keep it under spoilers because uh... it's kinda long.
I feel like one of the few people that actually enjoyed Gen VII, so I guess I'll say some stuff.
And I'm gonna keep it under spoilers because uh... it's kinda long.
The games gave me probably my favorite starter Pokemon of all time and I'm convinced I'm the reason some people on these forums dislike the Popplio line, I apologize for that. And while it's probably not my favorite region for Pokemon, I did like a many of them of them. Decidueye, Vikavolt, Rockruff and all Lycanroc forms, Mudsdale, Lurantis, Salazzle, Tsareena, Type: Null and Silvally, Mimikyu, Kommo-o, the main trio of Solgaleo, Lunala, and Necrozma, Poipole and Naganadel, and Zeraora were others I really like, too. Not to mention many of the Alolan forms, particularly the Ice types. Another thing I noticed is that basically every new Pokemon introduced either has its own unique ability, attack, or a type combination that had not been done yet, and I think that helps a lot of Alolan Pokemon feel more memorable.
Except for Faba, I don't think there was a single character I really disliked, either. And even then, Faba is obviously deliberately written to be hated like Dolores Umbridge or Joffrey Baratheon, so... mission accomplished there? In particular, I liked the main family at the center of the games (Lillie, Gladion, Lusamine, and Mohn), Guzma and Plumeria, Nanu, and Acerola in the games. Throw in Lana from the anime, as wellalso convinced I'm part of the reason many people in the anime chat dislike Lana.
I think the Alola games succeeded in trying to have their own identity and change up the Pokemon formula a little bit with the Trials instead of gyms, and I think it's one of the best regions at world building. Because let's face it: a lot of people at the time felt that the gym formula was getting a little stale and holding the series back from trying other things. After all, if you create this obligation that there has to be eight gyms, an evil team, an elite four and champion, there's only so much you can do with the story. And while I do feel the Trials could have distinguished themselves from gyms a little more and the challenges themselves could have been a little more difficult, I still think they felt organic within Alola and still gave us a different experience from gyms. Some of those Totem battles were pretty difficult, too (looking at you, Totem Lurantis). Well... assuming you're not either overlevelled or using a team of OP Pokemon, anyway, but all Pokemon games are easy when you do that.
I really liked that Alola placed a lot of emphasis on family albeit moreso in the anime but also in the games with Lillie's family, because that inherently creates a more emotional story than what we're used to. In the case of the games, it's the first time where a family's storyline was placed in the forefront, and Lusamine was a very different kind of villain because of it. Like... she wasn't just another villain out for world domination like basically every other Pokemon villain. She was a concerned mother and wife researching the Ultra Beasts to rescue her husband, slowly losing her sanity and growing obsessed with the Ultra Beasts in the process to the point where her children turn against her in their own ways. To me, that is significantly more interesting than just another villain out to take over the world. And that's before mentioning stuff like Lillie and Gladion's storyline or Hau trying to step out of the shadow of his Kahuna grandfather or getting to see all the Captains just having lives outside of being Captains.
And one last thing I appreciate is that, while not overly difficult, they were a huge step up in difficulty from XY assuming you're playing with the EXP Share turned off. Like I said, there were a few Totem battles that were legitimately difficult, the leaders in Rainbow Rocket were pretty tough, and then there's the Ultra Necrozma fight.
No, I don't think the games are perfect. Yes, there was stuff that GF could have done more with. Even I was a little bothered by the lag in some places and prefer Mega Evolutions over Z-Moves, and I can understand people being annoyed by the cutscenes and tutorials, though personally, I am typically not bothered by the latter two things in video games. But I do think the positives far outweigh the negatives overall. It does make me sad that most people on here seem to think these games are trash, but from what I've seen outside of these forums, from the less hardcore crowd? I have a feeling Gen VII will be like Gen III and Gen V where it will take time for people to warm up to them. They just need a bit of time outside of the spotlight.
Except for Faba, I don't think there was a single character I really disliked, either. And even then, Faba is obviously deliberately written to be hated like Dolores Umbridge or Joffrey Baratheon, so... mission accomplished there? In particular, I liked the main family at the center of the games (Lillie, Gladion, Lusamine, and Mohn), Guzma and Plumeria, Nanu, and Acerola in the games. Throw in Lana from the anime, as well
I think the Alola games succeeded in trying to have their own identity and change up the Pokemon formula a little bit with the Trials instead of gyms, and I think it's one of the best regions at world building. Because let's face it: a lot of people at the time felt that the gym formula was getting a little stale and holding the series back from trying other things. After all, if you create this obligation that there has to be eight gyms, an evil team, an elite four and champion, there's only so much you can do with the story. And while I do feel the Trials could have distinguished themselves from gyms a little more and the challenges themselves could have been a little more difficult, I still think they felt organic within Alola and still gave us a different experience from gyms. Some of those Totem battles were pretty difficult, too (looking at you, Totem Lurantis). Well... assuming you're not either overlevelled or using a team of OP Pokemon, anyway, but all Pokemon games are easy when you do that.
I really liked that Alola placed a lot of emphasis on family albeit moreso in the anime but also in the games with Lillie's family, because that inherently creates a more emotional story than what we're used to. In the case of the games, it's the first time where a family's storyline was placed in the forefront, and Lusamine was a very different kind of villain because of it. Like... she wasn't just another villain out for world domination like basically every other Pokemon villain. She was a concerned mother and wife researching the Ultra Beasts to rescue her husband, slowly losing her sanity and growing obsessed with the Ultra Beasts in the process to the point where her children turn against her in their own ways. To me, that is significantly more interesting than just another villain out to take over the world. And that's before mentioning stuff like Lillie and Gladion's storyline or Hau trying to step out of the shadow of his Kahuna grandfather or getting to see all the Captains just having lives outside of being Captains.
And one last thing I appreciate is that, while not overly difficult, they were a huge step up in difficulty from XY assuming you're playing with the EXP Share turned off. Like I said, there were a few Totem battles that were legitimately difficult, the leaders in Rainbow Rocket were pretty tough, and then there's the Ultra Necrozma fight.
No, I don't think the games are perfect. Yes, there was stuff that GF could have done more with. Even I was a little bothered by the lag in some places and prefer Mega Evolutions over Z-Moves, and I can understand people being annoyed by the cutscenes and tutorials, though personally, I am typically not bothered by the latter two things in video games. But I do think the positives far outweigh the negatives overall. It does make me sad that most people on here seem to think these games are trash, but from what I've seen outside of these forums, from the less hardcore crowd? I have a feeling Gen VII will be like Gen III and Gen V where it will take time for people to warm up to them. They just need a bit of time outside of the spotlight.
TwilightBlade
Well-Known Member
Generation 7 was weird. In some ways it was an improvement over Generation 6 because I liked Alola and a lot of the new features like Z-Moves, but I didn't like the Pokemon introduced in this generation that much. I also wasn't a fan of how we got Kanto remakes for the Switch. I wish they had been for the 3DS console instead.
Sαpphire
Johto Champion
First of all, I have to point out that I don’t really count Let’s Go as a seventh generation game. Too much separates it from the Alolan titles. Anyway...
Alola is where the Pokémon franchise hit its narrative stride. The characters and region feel so much more tangible and real than ever before, and the story is clear and cohesive. While I’m not the biggest fan of some of the changes made for the Ultra releases, I would place them among the best titles in the history of the franchise.
For me, the care that was taken to tell an engaging, emotional story in Sun and Moon took the franchise from a place of growing disinterest to new heights of enjoyment. Despite having loved the sixth generation, it had been a long time since I truly connected with the series. I’d found Black and White too overbearing and heavy with their story, I’d stopped BW2 very early on for lack of interest in the region and story, and something about Gen 6 had simply failed to capture my heart. I guess Kalos, while beautiful, felt hollow and unchallenging, and ORAS were phenomenal, but retellings that simply reframed nostalgic feelings rather than forging new bonds.
So when Sun and Moon came out, I was honestly prepared to hate them. I was unsure about the region, there didn’t seem to be enough new species, and we were coming off a gap year that felt kind of unplanned - like we were supposed to get a Z version but it was cancelled right before it would have been announced. Somehow, against those odds, I found Alola to be the best thing that ever happened to me as a fan. I spent nights on end with Moon, and struggled a dozen times to finish that last battle and become the first Champion, and felt more fulfilled when I was done than ever before.
The best part of the generation, though - and I know not everyone will agree - was Lusamine.
We had in her a villainous character with more complex, but simultaneously more human, motivations than ever before. She wasn’t just some mafia boss, or a power-hungry tyrant. She was a mother, an assumed widow, a powerful businesswoman, and an incredibly intelligent character. She was dynamic and layered, and she occupied the liminal grey spaces between good and evil, right and wrong, in a way most other antagonistic characters in the series couldn’t. She inspired strong emotions from many, but in me I saw a powerful statement about what it means to be human and what happens when good people are driven to do horrible things. The fact that the games try to give her some semblance of redemption after the main story is amazing.
I could honestly keep going, but I’ll stop here. I’m thankful to Game Freak for all of the seventh generation, and the brilliant story and characters that came with it. I’m more of a fan, and a more committed and content fan, because of the care that was taken to make the seventh generation a truly phenomenal experience. As I continue into more hours of Sword and Shield, the lens through which I view them will forever be changed because of the experiences I had in Alola.
Alola is where the Pokémon franchise hit its narrative stride. The characters and region feel so much more tangible and real than ever before, and the story is clear and cohesive. While I’m not the biggest fan of some of the changes made for the Ultra releases, I would place them among the best titles in the history of the franchise.
For me, the care that was taken to tell an engaging, emotional story in Sun and Moon took the franchise from a place of growing disinterest to new heights of enjoyment. Despite having loved the sixth generation, it had been a long time since I truly connected with the series. I’d found Black and White too overbearing and heavy with their story, I’d stopped BW2 very early on for lack of interest in the region and story, and something about Gen 6 had simply failed to capture my heart. I guess Kalos, while beautiful, felt hollow and unchallenging, and ORAS were phenomenal, but retellings that simply reframed nostalgic feelings rather than forging new bonds.
So when Sun and Moon came out, I was honestly prepared to hate them. I was unsure about the region, there didn’t seem to be enough new species, and we were coming off a gap year that felt kind of unplanned - like we were supposed to get a Z version but it was cancelled right before it would have been announced. Somehow, against those odds, I found Alola to be the best thing that ever happened to me as a fan. I spent nights on end with Moon, and struggled a dozen times to finish that last battle and become the first Champion, and felt more fulfilled when I was done than ever before.
The best part of the generation, though - and I know not everyone will agree - was Lusamine.
We had in her a villainous character with more complex, but simultaneously more human, motivations than ever before. She wasn’t just some mafia boss, or a power-hungry tyrant. She was a mother, an assumed widow, a powerful businesswoman, and an incredibly intelligent character. She was dynamic and layered, and she occupied the liminal grey spaces between good and evil, right and wrong, in a way most other antagonistic characters in the series couldn’t. She inspired strong emotions from many, but in me I saw a powerful statement about what it means to be human and what happens when good people are driven to do horrible things. The fact that the games try to give her some semblance of redemption after the main story is amazing.
I could honestly keep going, but I’ll stop here. I’m thankful to Game Freak for all of the seventh generation, and the brilliant story and characters that came with it. I’m more of a fan, and a more committed and content fan, because of the care that was taken to make the seventh generation a truly phenomenal experience. As I continue into more hours of Sword and Shield, the lens through which I view them will forever be changed because of the experiences I had in Alola.
The Red Thunder
Backwards thinking?
Throughout the Seventh Gen, I was always disdainful of it. Looking back, though, it wasn't all that bad.
I didn't like the Island Trials compared to the traditional Gym Battles. They were unique in their own right, but so many of them just felt like silly mini-games. Totem Pokemon were a fantastic substitution for "Gym Leaders" though. I loved each of the Totem Pokemon fight, even if I one-shot them on future playthroughs. Some of the actual trials, though, were just odd. Kiawe's trial, for instance, was just something out of a "Highlights" magazine. Lana's trial was just a fishing minigame while she made thirsty comments.
Team Skull, on the other hand, was amazing. I absolutely LOVED every interaction with Team Skull and Guzma. The music was amazing, the dialogue was genuinely funny, and their overarching story was actually believable. The "misguided youth" angle really works for them when you consider how Guzma's story arc ended up. Po Town had so much personality to it, and the first time I reached it, I just imagined my main character standing at the gate with his Decidueye and shouting "GUZMA" as loud as he could. Normally, my response to the evil team is "... and then there's THIS ***-hole", but with Team Skull, it was the exact opposite.
The Seventh Gen starters are probably my favorite. I'm loving how each of the starters since Sixth Gen have all had themes to them. I genuinely love all three of the Alolan starters.
The thing is, my time with Seventh Gen isn't over. With around half of the National Pokedex cut out of Sword & Shield, I'm likely to keep leveling Pokemon in previous generations. I'm planning a "mass replay" for 2020, starting with First Gen, and moving forward, playing every game in the series (including LGPE) up through Sword and Shield a second time. Going forward, I'm keeping an open mind. I like Team Yell, and love that they're "overzealous super-fans" of Marnie (and, honestly, I am too). I haven't completed Sword & Shield yet, but I am really enjoying it.
I didn't like the Island Trials compared to the traditional Gym Battles. They were unique in their own right, but so many of them just felt like silly mini-games. Totem Pokemon were a fantastic substitution for "Gym Leaders" though. I loved each of the Totem Pokemon fight, even if I one-shot them on future playthroughs. Some of the actual trials, though, were just odd. Kiawe's trial, for instance, was just something out of a "Highlights" magazine. Lana's trial was just a fishing minigame while she made thirsty comments.
Team Skull, on the other hand, was amazing. I absolutely LOVED every interaction with Team Skull and Guzma. The music was amazing, the dialogue was genuinely funny, and their overarching story was actually believable. The "misguided youth" angle really works for them when you consider how Guzma's story arc ended up. Po Town had so much personality to it, and the first time I reached it, I just imagined my main character standing at the gate with his Decidueye and shouting "GUZMA" as loud as he could. Normally, my response to the evil team is "... and then there's THIS ***-hole", but with Team Skull, it was the exact opposite.
The Seventh Gen starters are probably my favorite. I'm loving how each of the starters since Sixth Gen have all had themes to them. I genuinely love all three of the Alolan starters.
The thing is, my time with Seventh Gen isn't over. With around half of the National Pokedex cut out of Sword & Shield, I'm likely to keep leveling Pokemon in previous generations. I'm planning a "mass replay" for 2020, starting with First Gen, and moving forward, playing every game in the series (including LGPE) up through Sword and Shield a second time. Going forward, I'm keeping an open mind. I like Team Yell, and love that they're "overzealous super-fans" of Marnie (and, honestly, I am too). I haven't completed Sword & Shield yet, but I am really enjoying it.
Closing this as it hasn't been posted in for over 60 days. Feel free to make a new thread.
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