Team Skull, Aether Foundation and Plot Discussion Thread [Contains Story Spoilers]

[Aetius]

Finally finished the main plot and the UB hunt.
All I can say about the story of these games is that i found it extremely appealing, without mentioning the fact that we finally got our very first evil female leader, even though I admit that technically Lusamine isn't one, considering that the Evil Team was Team Skull and certainly not the Aether Foundation.
Appealing in the sense that it totally stroke me as well thought and mainly built around a family, which was "destroyed" by the research on the Ultra Space.
After all, Mohn is clearly Lusamine's husband and had without any doubt his memory wiped by its long stay in the Ultra World, becoming thus a Faller.
That's why despite being well and alive he doesn't go back to his family; how could he remember after all?
Not only that, but he probably inadvertently caused the appearance of the UB in the Pokèworld and caused the corruption of his wife by the hands (tentacles) of Nihilego.
That's what made me realize how different these games were from the previous ones.
This time around the objectives of the "Evil" Teams weren't anything grand, on the contrary both Lusamine's and Guzma's drive to achieve them were given by a personal drama, that neither of them was capable of overcoming...
Corrupted by Nihilego, Lusamine lost all contacts with reality, becoming obsessed with "Love", while Guzma couldn't accept his failures and even overran a city in order to create his own paradise, which instead ended up becoming an hub of misfits and failures.
Maybe I'm seeing what's not there, but that's what I got from the plot and I'm so grateful to Ohmori for creating such a captivating story!

 

[JFD]

I think the story had a bit of a problem with pacing - everything sort of snowballed at the end, but I think this is true of all Pokemon games. Compared to the implied depth of the story, I also think the execution was a bit shallow - though that makes it more titillating and favourable to head canons But the character development has to be some of the best in the series, IMO. All round a great addition to the Pokemon universe, and I really hope to see more of the UBs in the future.

 

[XY Rules]

Finished the main story. It was surprisingly pretty good for the most part. Team Skull is literally the worst evil team in the entire franchise...But Z the Aether Foundation were good villains. Not nearly as good as Galactic or Plasma but still good in their own right. But what really made it were the characters. Especially Lillie and her incredible development. Hau's, Gladion's, and Lusamine's were good as well.

But the island challenge was still garbage. If they go back to the actual good formula with the gyms (and a league with people we haven't already battled before...) on the next gen and incorporate all of the good elements in S&M then I could definitely see it having the potential to be the best Pokemon game yet.

 

[Wryteous]

Finished the main story. It was surprisingly pretty good for the most part. Team Skull is literally the worst evil team in the entire franchise...But Z the Aether Foundation were good villains. Not nearly as good as Galactic or Plasma but still good in their own right. But what really made it were the characters. Especially Lillie and her incredible development. Hau's, Gladion's, and Lusamine's were good as well.

But the island challenge was still garbage. If they go back to the actual good formula with the gyms (and a league with people we haven't already battled before...) on the next gen and incorporate all of the good elements in S&M then I could definitely see it having the potential to be the best Pokemon game yet.

I agree Team Skull are easily the least meancing group of punks. Guzma wasn't much but the Aether twist was indeed great.
I think the island challenges for the most part were fun, but Mallow's "trial" and other ones weren't very challenging or engaging. But the totem pokemon themselves made for challenging opponents (a half/third of them anyway) and the lengthy gaps between Kahuna battles made them opponents that you definitely sized up and prepared for before taking on.

League was somewhat unoriginal- except for the flying type user- first time challenging I thought her symbol on the door showed something similar to the earth badge and organized my team to take on Hapu... I was initally confused after entering the room.

 

[Zero Nexus]

People are saying Team Skull are lame and the "least menacing" evil team so far... to which I completely agree... however, that is exactly WHY I like them; they're hilarious.

First couple of times you see them you raise an eyebrow, but when you learn how serious they are about their job yet how incompetant they are at it, it makes for comedy gold - they're obviously intended to be parody villains, to disguise the fact that Lusamine is the real threat, but the grunts and their mannerisms have a hell of a lot more personality than the generic goons from all the other evil teams.

And don't even try to deny that some of their lines aren't extremely well written, because they are.

 

[Akashin]

Finished the main story. It was surprisingly pretty good for the most part. Team Skull is literally the worst evil team in the entire franchise...But Z the Aether Foundation were good villains. Not nearly as good as Galactic or Plasma but still good in their own right. But what really made it were the characters. Especially Lillie and her incredible development. Hau's, Gladion's, and Lusamine's were good as well.

But the island challenge was still garbage. If they go back to the actual good formula with the gyms (and a league with people we haven't already battled before...) on the next gen and incorporate all of the good elements in S&M then I could definitely see it having the potential to be the best Pokemon game yet.

I'm constantly surprised by how many people seem to think Skull was meant to be a good team. They're a group of misfits banding together with no actual tangible goal beyond sticking it out together. I thought they did a wonderful job of filling the role they were intended to fill.

Can't say I understand the E4 complaint, either. The ones you've battled before (which is only 2/5, for the record) have new teams anyway, so what difference does it make that they're not new characters whose sole purpose is to sit there and challenge you? It makes perfect sense that Kahunas would be among those at the top vying to be the first Champion (because the first time around they weren't even E4 per se; they were other top class Trainers competing with you over being the first Champion), and then forming the E4 afterward.

 

[cl94]

I don't understand any of those complaints, either. 6 generations of the same gym challenges and puzzles got a bit repetitive. Just about everything in X and Y was a rehash of something from a previous generation. The challenge was something different. Stuff like that is what will keep those of us who have been around forever engaged. I gave up after Platinum because it got too repetitive and only got a 2DS for Sun/Moon because it was looking like a nice change.

 

[Tropios]

Team Skull was the best. They were ridiculously over the top and not meant to be taken seriously. They fulfilled their role perfectly and had some of the greatest themes ever to top it off. I'll take them any day over team Flare, who awkwardly floated in between goofy and meant to be taken seriously. The whole evil team thing had grown weary by gen 6.

Also, I don't think I'd ever want 'just' gyms again, except for maybe in remakes. The island challenge was so fitting for the Alola region and an inherent part of its culture, in a way gyms never were. They have nothing to do with the regions theirselves and are pretty interchangeable, I would love it if from now on every new gen comes with its own unique system.

I hope future regions will be as well executed as Alola in general. Every change these games introduced were linked to and strengthened the concept and identity of Alola.

 

[shadowF]

So I hear that there was another team that was mentioned by a space man in the desert that could serve as bad guys. Can anyone give me some background information or any information on this group?

 

[Nerdy McNerdface]

So I hear that there was another team that was mentioned by a space man in the desert that could serve as bad guys. Can anyone give me some background information or any information on this group?

I watched a video about the space man, but I didn't detect anything about an evil team in it...

 

[Xuxuba]

I don't understand any of those complaints, either. 6 generations of the same gym challenges and puzzles got a bit repetitive. Just about everything in X and Y was a rehash of something from a previous generation. The challenge was something different. Stuff like that is what will keep those of us who have been around forever engaged. I gave up after Platinum because it got too repetitive and only got a 2DS for Sun/Moon because it was looking like a nice change.

The concept of trials itself isn't bad, but the way it was implemented....

It definetly could've been better, at least half of them. Like, Kiawe's trial isn't even a trial, because every option you chose is correct therefore you're not even being tested. Mina didn't even have a trial, she just gives you the z-crystal. Sophomore's trial was just a short and easy quiz and several gyms had done this before with way better questions. Also, a major part of the trials involved battling wild pokemon, which was kind of underwhelming compared to defeating trainers on the gyms.

The totem pokemon are cool though. It's certainly more challenging and exciting than defeating wild pokemon.

 

[Azery]

The concept of trials itself isn't bad, but the way it was implemented....

It definetly could've been better, at least half of them. Like, Kiawe's trial isn't even a trial, because every option you chose is correct therefore you're not even being tested. Mina didn't even have a trial, she just gives you the z-crystal. Sophomore's trial was just a short and easy quiz and several gyms had done this before with way better questions. Also, a major part of the trials involved battling wild pokemon, which was kind of underwhelming compared to defeating trainers on the gyms.

The totem pokemon are cool though. It's certainly more challenging and exciting than defeating wild pokemon.

I found Kiawe's trial to be one of the best if only for the humour. T's great tbh. Bless Hiker David and the black suspicious new totem Pokemon.

 

[Xuxuba]

I found Kiawe's trial to be one of the best if only for the humour. T's great tbh. Bless Hiker David and the black suspicious new totem Pokemon.

I don't think a laugh compensates the lack of a challenging and exciting quest though.

 

[goodpeople25]

I watched a video about the space man, but I didn't detect anything about an evil team in it...

There's a "group of wonderful men" that are mentioned and kinda has story possibilities. But from what I can tell it's just a huge stretch. (And I actually thought about the O power guys right away which is also a guess going around)

 

[diakyu]

Let's not act like gyms particularly gave much challenge. Yes, maybe one or two per game but many were jokes and not on purpose like Kiawe's lol. Gyms had become a to-do list check mark secondary to pretty much everything by the time gen 6 came along and GF has likely noticed that.

 

[Tropios]

I don't think a laugh compensates the lack of a challenging and exciting quest though.

Gyms were neither of those though. Usually the puzzles were tedious and were almost always just some form of maze or quiz.

Even though Sophocles' trial was a bit eh, I really did enjoy most of them.

 

[Xuxuba]

I think we can all agree that nobody here has said gen 6 was more challenging. Gen 7 is certainly more challenging, but part of that challenge comes at the expense of not having many places to grind for exp, making the chore tiresome and boring.

I do think some of the gym puzzles (like Clemont's quiz) were more fun and thought out than certain trials (like Sophomore's quiz) though.

 

[Nerdy McNerdface]

There's a "group of wonderful men" that are mentioned and kinda has story possibilities. But from what I can tell it's just a huge stretch. (And I actually thought about the O power guys right away which is also a guess going around)

I thought of the mysterious old man from the demo....

 

[cl94]

I do think some of the gym puzzles (like Clemont's quiz) were more fun and thought out...

And that was ripped off from Blaine in Gen I. Gen IV had one that was a ripoff of Blaine as well. Every gym puzzle in Gen VI was something from Gens I-III. At least the Sophocles trial was a new take on it. I was always able to play through without sound before this.

Kiawe's trial was obviously a joke, Mallow's could have been a PITA if you didn't know where to find stuff. That one took me almost as long as the others combined. But it was different.

 

[clbgolden12]

I think we can all agree that nobody here has said gen 6 was more challenging. Gen 7 is certainly more challenging, but part of that challenge comes at the expense of not having many places to grind for exp, making the chore tiresome and boring.

... I've beat the game and haven't had to grind even once.

Not to mention, in most previous Pokémon games there weren't many grinding places either.